- 1:1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, the king of Israel:
- 1:2For knowing wisdom and instruction; / For discerning words of understanding;
- 1:3For receiving instruction in wise conduct, / Righteousness, justice, and equity;
- 1:4For giving prudence to the simple, / Knowledge and discretion to the young man;
- 1:5That the wise man may hear and increase in learning, / And he who has understanding may acquire sound counsel;
- 1:6For understanding proverb and figure, / The words of the wise and their difficult sayings.
- 1:7The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; / Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- 1:8Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, / And do not reject the teaching of your mother;
- 1:9For they will be a wreath of grace for your head / And ornaments for your neck.
- 1:10My son, if sinners entice you, / Do not consent.
- 1:11If they say, Come with us; let us lie in wait for blood; / Let us ambush the innocent without cause;
- 1:12Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, / And whole, like those who go down into the pit.
- 1:13We will find all manner of precious goods; / We will fill our houses with booty;
- 1:14Throw in your lot with us; / We will all have one purse -
- 1:15My son, do not walk with them on this way; / Keep your foot from their path.
- 1:16For their feet run toward evil, / And they hasten to shed blood.
- 1:17For in vain is the net spread / In the eyes of any bird;
- 1:18Yet they lie in wait for their own blood; / They ambush their own lives!
- 1:19Such are the ways of everyone greedy for gain; / It takes away the life of its owners.
- 1:20Wisdom cries out in the street; / She utters her voice in the open squares.
- 1:21At the head of the tumultuous street she cries; / At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
- 1:22How long, O simple ones, will you love simpleness, / And will scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, / And will fools hate knowledge?
- 1:23Turn yourselves at my reproof - / Immediately I will pour out my spirit on you; / I will make my words known to you.
- 1:24Because I called and you refused; / I stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
- 1:25And you neglected all my counsel / And would have none of my reproof;
- 1:26I also will laugh at your calamity; / I will mock when what you dread comes,
- 1:27When what you dread comes like a storm, / And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, / When distress and anguish come upon you.
- 1:28Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; / They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
- 1:29Because they hated knowledge / And did not choose the fear of Jehovah,
- 1:30And would have none of my counsel / And despised all my reproof;
- 1:31They shall eat of the fruit of their own way / And be filled with their own devices.
- 1:32For the turning away of the simple will kill them, / And the prosperity of the foolish will cause them to perish;
- 1:33But he who listens to me will dwell securely / And will live at ease, without the dread of evil.
- 2:1My son, if you receive my words / And treasure up my commandments within you,
- 2:2Making your ear attentive to wisdom / And inclining your heart to understanding;
- 2:3Indeed, if you cry out for discernment / And lift up your voice for understanding;
- 2:4If you seek her like silver / And search for her like hidden treasures,
- 2:5Then you will understand the fear of Jehovah / And find the knowledge of God.
- 2:6For Jehovah gives wisdom; / From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
- 2:7He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; / He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
- 2:8Guarding the paths of justice / And keeping the way of His faithful ones.
- 2:9Then you will understand righteousness and justice / And equity, indeed, every good path.
- 2:10For wisdom will enter your heart, / And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
- 2:11Discretion will watch over you; / Understanding will keep you:
- 2:12To deliver you from the way of evil, / From the man who speaks perverse things,
- 2:13From those who forsake the paths of uprightness / To walk in the ways of darkness,
- 2:14Who rejoice in doing evil / And delight in the perverseness of evil,
- 2:15Whose paths are crooked, / And who are devious in their ways;
- 2:16To deliver you from the strange woman, / From the adulteress who flatters with her words,
- 2:17Who forsakes the companion of her youth / And forgets the covenant of her God;
- 2:18For her house sinks down to death, / And her paths lead to the dead;
- 2:19None who go to her ever return, / Nor do they attain to the paths of life;
- 2:20That you may walk in the way of good men / And keep the paths of the righteous;
- 2:21For the upright will dwell in the land, / And the perfect will remain in it;
- 2:22But the wicked will be cut off from the land, / And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.