Proverbs 3–5

3My son, forget not my law;

But let thy heart keep my commandments:

²For length of days, and years of life,

And peace, will they add to thee.

³Let not kindness and truth forsake thee:

Bind them about thy neck;

Write them upon the tablet of thy heart:

⁴So shalt thou find favor and good understanding

In the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,

And lean not upon thine own understanding:

⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him,

And he will direct thy paths.

⁷Be not wise in thine own eyes;

Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil:

⁸It will be health to thy navel,

And marrow to thy bones.

⁹Honor Jehovah with thy substance,

And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:

¹⁰So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,

And thy vats shall overflow with new wine.

¹¹My son, despise not the chastening of Jehovah;

Neither be weary of his reproof:

¹²For whom Jehovah loveth he reproveth;

Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

¹³Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,

And the man that getteth understanding.

¹⁴For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver,

And the profit thereof than fine gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies:

And none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her.

¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand;

In her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

And all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:

And happy is every one that retaineth her.

¹⁹Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth;

By understanding he established the heavens.

²⁰By his knowledge the depths were broken up,

And the skies drop down the dew.

²¹My son, let them not depart from thine eyes;

Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

²²So shall they be life unto thy soul,

And grace to thy neck.

²³Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely,

And thy foot shall not stumble.

²⁴When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid:

Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear,

Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh:

²⁶For Jehovah will be thy confidence,

And will keep thy foot from being taken.

²⁷Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,

When it is in the power of thy hand to do it.

²⁸Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again,

And to-morrow I will give;

When thou hast it by thee.

²⁹Devise not evil against thy neighbor,

Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

³⁰Strive not with a man without cause,

If he have done thee no harm.

³¹Envy thou not the man of violence,

And choose none of his ways.

³²For the perverse is an abomination to Jehovah;

But his friendship is with the upright.

³³The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the wicked;

But he blesseth the habitation of the righteous.

³⁴Surely he scoffeth at the scoffers;

But he giveth grace unto the lowly.

³⁵The wise shall inherit glory;

But shame shall be the promotion of fools.

4Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father,

And attend to know understanding:

²For I give you good doctrine;

Forsake ye not my law.

³For I was a son unto my father,

Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

⁴And he taught me, and said unto me:

Let thy heart retain my words;

Keep my commandments, and live;

⁵Get wisdom, get understanding;

Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

⁶Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee;

Love her, and she will keep thee.

⁷Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom;

Yea, with all thy getting get understanding.

⁸Exalt her, and she will promote thee;

She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.

⁹She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace;

A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee.

¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings;

And the years of thy life shall be many.

¹¹I have taught thee in the way of wisdom;

I have led thee in paths of uprightness.

¹²When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;

And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

¹³Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:

Keep her; for she is thy life.

¹⁴Enter not into the path of the wicked,

And walk not in the way of evil men.

¹⁵Avoid it, pass not by it;

Turn from it, and pass on.

¹⁶For they sleep not, except they do evil;

And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness,

And drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light,

That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is as darkness:

They know not at what they stumble.

²⁰My son, attend to my words;

Incline thine ear unto my sayings.

²¹Let them not depart from thine eyes;

Keep them in the midst of thy heart.

²²For they are life unto those that find them,

And health to all their flesh.

²³Keep thy heart with all diligence;

For out of it are the issues of life.

²⁴Put away from thee a wayward mouth,

And perverse lips put far from thee.

²⁵Let thine eyes look right on,

And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

²⁶Make level the path of thy feet,

And let all thy ways be established.

²⁷Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:

Remove thy foot from evil.

5My son, attend unto my wisdom;

Incline thine ear to my understanding:

²That thou mayest preserve discretion,

And that thy lips may keep knowledge.

³For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,

And her mouth is smoother than oil:

⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

Sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death;

Her steps take hold on Sheol;

⁶So that she findeth not the level path of life:

Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.

⁷Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,

And depart not from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove thy way far from her,

And come not nigh the door of her house;

⁹Lest thou give thine honor unto others,

And thy years unto the cruel;

¹⁰Lest strangers be filled with thy strength,

And thy labors be in the house of an alien,

¹¹And thou mourn at thy latter end,

When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

¹²And say, How have I hated instruction,

And my heart despised reproof;

¹³Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

¹⁴I was well-nigh in all evil

In the midst of the assembly and congregation.

¹⁵Drink waters out of thine own cistern,

And running waters out of thine own well.

¹⁶Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,

And streams of water in the streets?

¹⁷Let them be for thyself alone,

And not for strangers with thee.

¹⁸Let thy fountain be blessed;

And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.

¹⁹As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,

Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;

And be thou ravished always with her love.

²⁰For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman,

And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah;

And he maketh level all his paths.

²²His own iniquities shall take the wicked,

And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

²³He shall die for lack of instruction;

And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.