| 1 | The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: |
| 2 | To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding; |
| 3 | To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity; |
| 4 | To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion: |
| 5 | That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels: |
| 6 | To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings. |
| 7 | The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. |
| 8 | My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother: |
| 9 | For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck. |
| 10 | My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not. |
| 11 | If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause; |
| 12 | Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit; |
| 13 | We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil; |
| 14 | Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse: |
| 15 | My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path: |
| 16 | For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood. |
| 17 | For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird: |
| 18 | And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives. |
| 19 | So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof. |
| 20 | Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places; |
| 21 | She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words: |
| 22 | How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge? |
| 23 | Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you. |
| 24 | Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded; |
| 25 | But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof: |
| 26 | I also will laugh in [the day of] your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; |
| 27 | When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you. |
| 28 | Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me: |
| 29 | For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah: |
| 30 | They would none of my counsel; They despised all my reproof. |
| 31 | Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices. |
| 32 | For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them. |
| 33 | But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil. |
