Proverbs 1–9

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.

Chapter 3

My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments.

²For they shall add to thee length of days, and years of life, and peace.

³Let not mercy and truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and write them in the tables of thy heart.

⁴And thou shalt find grace, and good understanding before God and men.

⁵Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence.

⁶In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps.

⁷Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil:

⁸For it shall be health to thy navel, and moistening to thy bones.

⁹Honour the Lord with thy substance, and give him of the first of all thy fruits;

¹⁰And thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses shall run over with wine.

¹¹My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when thou art chastised by him:

¹²For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth: and as a father in the son he pleaseth himself.

¹³Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and is rich in prudence:

¹⁴The purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and her fruit than the chief and purest gold:

¹⁵She is more precious than all riches: and all the things that are desired, are not to be compared to her.

¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory.

¹⁷Her ways are beautiful ways, and all her paths are peaceable.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her: and he that shall retain her is blessed.

¹⁹The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, hath established the heavens by prudence.

²⁰By his wisdom the depths have broken out, and the clouds grow thick with dew.

²¹My son, let not these things depart from thy eyes: keep the law and counsel:

²²And there shall be life to thy soul, and grace to thy mouth.

²³Then shalt thou walk confidently in thy way, and thy foot shall not stumble:

²⁴If thou sleep, thou shalt not fear: thou shalt rest, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the power of the wicked falling upon thee.

²⁶For the Lord will be at thy side, and will keep thy foot that thou be not taken.

²⁷Do not withhold him from doing good, who is able: if thou art able, do good thyself also.

²⁸Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will give to thee: when thou canst give at present.

²⁹Practise not evil against thy friend, when he hath confidence in thee.

³⁰Strive not against a man without cause, when he hath done thee no evil.

³¹Envy not the unjust man, and do not follow his ways.

³²For every mocker is an abomination to the Lord, and his communication is with the simple.

³³Want is from the Lord in the house of the wicked: but the habitations of the just shall be blessed.

³⁴He shall scorn the scorners, and to the meek he will give grace.

³⁵The wise shall possess glory: the promotion of fools is disgrace.

Chapter 4

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend, that you may know prudence.

²I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.

³For I also was my father’s son, tender, and as an only son in the sight of my mother:

⁴And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.

⁵Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.

⁶Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.

⁷The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.

⁸Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.

⁹She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.

¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.

¹¹I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:

¹²Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.

¹³Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.

¹⁴Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.

¹⁵Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.

¹⁶For they sleep not, except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.

¹⁷They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.

¹⁸But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards, and increaseth even to perfect day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.

²⁰My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.

²¹Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:

²²For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.

²³With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.

²⁴Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.

²⁵Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.

²⁶Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.

²⁷Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will…