Proverbs 9

Wisdom and Stupidity

9Wisdom has built her house and made seven pillars for it. ²She has had an animal killed for a feast, mixed spices in the wine, and laid the table. ³She has sent her servant women to call out from the highest place in the town: ⁴“Come in, ignorant people!” And to the foolish she says, ⁵“Come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed. ⁶Leave the company of ignorant people, and live. Follow the way of knowledge.”

⁷If you correct conceited people, you will only be insulted. If you reprimand evil people, you will only get hurt. ⁸Never correct conceited people; they will hate you for it. But if you correct the wise, they will respect you. ⁹Anything you say to the wise will make them wiser. Whatever you tell the righteous will add to their knowledge.

^10*To be wise you must first have reverence for the Lord. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding. ¹¹Wisdom will add years to your life. ¹²You are the one who will profit if you have wisdom, and if you reject it, you are the one who will suffer.

¹³Stupidity is like a loud, ignorant, shameless woman.^{h 14}She sits at the door of her house or on a seat in the highest part of the town, ¹⁵and calls out to people passing by, who are minding their own business: ¹⁶“Come in, ignorant people!” To the foolish she says, ¹⁷“Stolen water is sweeter. Stolen bread tastes better.” ¹⁸Her victims do not know that the people die who go to her house, that those who have already entered are now deep in the world of the dead.