Proverbs 1–2

Chapter 1

¹Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: ²to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; ³to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity; ⁴to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. ⁵He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels: ⁶to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas.

⁷The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother; ⁹for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee, consent not. ¹¹If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; ¹²let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those that go down into the pit; ¹³we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: ¹⁴cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse: ¹⁵—my son, walk not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path; ¹⁶for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. ¹⁷For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings. ¹⁸And these lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives. ¹⁹So are the paths of every one that is greedy of gain: it taketh away the life of its possessors.

²⁰Wisdom crieth without; she raiseth her voice in the broadways; ²¹she calleth in the chief place of concourse, in the entry of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words: ²²How long, simple ones, will ye love simpleness, and scorners take pleasure in their scorning, and the foolish hate knowledge? ²³Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour forth my spirit unto you, I will make known to you my words. ²⁴Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded; ²⁵and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: ²⁶I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; ²⁷when your fear cometh as sudden destruction, and your calamity cometh 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 early, and shall not find me. ²⁹Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah; ³⁰they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof: ³¹therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices. ³²For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish. ³³But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil.

Chapter 2

¹My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee, ²so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and thou apply thy heart to understanding; ³yea, if thou criest after discernment and liftest up thy voice to understanding; ⁴if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures: ⁵then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God. ⁶For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to them that walk in integrity; ⁸guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones. ⁹Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.

¹⁰When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, ¹¹discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee: ¹²To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things; ¹³from those who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; ¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil; ¹⁵whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course: ¹⁶To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words; ¹⁷who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God; ¹⁸—for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead; ¹⁹none that go unto her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life: ²⁰—that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous. ²¹For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it; ²²but the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.