Proverbs 1–2

Chapter 1

The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,

²To know wisdom, and instruction:

³To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:

⁴To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding.

⁵A wise man shall hear, and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth shall possess governments.

⁶He shall understand a parable and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

⁹That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them.

¹¹If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:

¹²Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit.

¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils.

¹⁴Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.

¹⁵My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.

¹⁸And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls.

¹⁹So the ways of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.

²⁰Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:

²¹At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:

²²O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?

²³Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.

²⁴Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded.

²⁵You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions.

²⁶I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.

²⁷When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you:

²⁸Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning, and shall not find me:

²⁹Because they have hated instruction, and received not the fear of the Lord,

³⁰Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof.

³¹Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices.

³²The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

³³But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.

Chapter 2

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,

²That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: incline thy heart to know prudence.

³For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:

⁴If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:

⁵Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God:

⁶Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.

⁷He wilt keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity,

⁸Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.

⁹Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.

¹⁰If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:

¹¹Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,

¹²That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:

¹³Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:

¹⁴Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in the most wicked things:

¹⁵Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

¹⁶That thou mayst be delivered from the strange woman, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words;

¹⁷And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

¹⁸And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.

¹⁹None that go in unto her, shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life.

²⁰That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.

²¹For they that are upright, shall dwell in the earth; and the simple shall continue in it.

²²But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly, shall be taken away from it.