Proverbs

The [1] proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

To know [2] wisdom and [3] instruction; to perceive the words of [4] understanding;

To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgement, and equity;

To give subtlety to the simple, to the young person knowledge and discretion.

A wise person will hear and increase in learning; and a person of understanding will attain wise counsel:

To understand a proverb and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their deep sayings.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother:

For they shall be an ornament of grace to your head, and chains about your neck.

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

If they say, "Come with us, let us wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

Let us swallow them up alive like the grave, and whole, like those who go down into the pit;

We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil;

Cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse."

My son, do not walk in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path:

For their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.

Surely the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird.

They wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.

So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; which takes away the life of its owners.

Wisdom cries aloud outside; she utters her voice in the streets:

She cries in the chief place of gathering, in the openings of the gates; in the city she utters her words, saying,

"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Turn at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make known my words to you.

Because I have called and you refused; I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded;

But you have set at nothing all my counsel and would have none of my reproof;

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes;

When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me early, but they will not find me:

For they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

They would have none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.

Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices.

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

But whoever listens to me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil."