1 *The aproverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

2  To know wisdom and binstruction;

To cperceive the words of dunderstanding;

3  To receive the binstruction of wisdom,

eJustice, and judgment, and †equity;

4  To give fsubtilty to the gsimple,

To the young man knowledge and ||discretion.

5  A wise man will hear, and hwill increase ilearning;

And a man of understanding shall iiattain unto jwise counsels:

6  To cunderstand a aproverb, and ||the interpretation;

The words of the wise, and their kdark sayings.

7  lThe fear of the Lord is ||the beginning of knowledge:

But llfools despise wisdom and binstruction.

8  mMy son, hear the binstruction of thy father,

And nforsake not the law of thy mother:

9  For they shall be †an ornament of grace unto thy head,

And ochains about thy pneck.

10  My son, qif sinners entice thee,

Consent thou not.

11  If they say, Come with us, let us rlay wait for blood,

Let us slurk privily for the innocent without cause:

12  Let us uswallow them up alive vas the grave;

And whole, was those that go down into the pit:

13  We shall find all precious substance,

We shall fill our houses with spoil:

14  Cast in thy lot among us;

Let us all have one purse:

15  My son, qxwalk not thou in the way with them;

Refrain thy foot from their path:

16  yFor their feet run to evil,

And make haste to shed blood.

17  Surely in vain zthe net is spread †in the sight of any bird.

18  And they clay wait for their own blood;

They clurk privily for their own lives.

19  So are the ways of every one dthat is greedy of gain;

Which taketh away the life of ddthe owners thereof.

20  †eWisdom crieth without;

She uttereth her voice in the streets:

21  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in eethe openings of the gates:

In the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22  How long, ye fsimple ones, will ye love simplicity?

And the gscorners delight in their scorning,

And fools hhate knowledge?

23  Turn you at my reproof:

Behold, iI will jpour out my spirit unto you,

I will make known my words unto you.

24  kBecause I have called, and ye lrefused;

I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25  But ye have mset at nought all my counsel,

And nwould none of my reproof:

26  I also will olaugh at your calamity;

I will omock when your fear cometh;

27  When your fear cometh as pdesolation,

And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;

When distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28  qThen shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;

They shall rseek me early, but they shall not find me:

29  For that they hhated knowledge,

And did not schoose the fear of the Lord:

30  They uwould none of my counsel:

They tdespised all my reproof.

31  Therefore shall they eat of uthe fruit of their own way,

And be wfilled with their own devices.

32  For the ||xturning away of the simple shall slay them,

And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

33  But ywhoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,

And zshall be quiet from fear of evil.