Lecture Against Gang Behavior

8 My child, may you keepe your father’s instruction,

and do not reject your mother’s teachings,

9 for they are a garland of favor for your head,

and pendants for your neck.

10 My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

11 If they say,

“Come with us!

We shall lie in wait for blood;

we shall ambush the innocent without cause.f

12 Like Sheol,g we will swallow them alive

and whole, ⌊like those who descend to the pit⌋.h

13 We shall find all precious wealth,

we shall fill our houses with booty,

14 you shall throw your lot in our midst,

there will be one purse for all of us.”

15 My child, do not walk in their way.i

Keep your foot from their paths,

16 for their feet run to evil,

and they hurry to shed blood,

17 for “in vainj is the net scattered,

in the sight of any ⌊winged bird⌋.”k

18 They lie in wait for their own blood.

They ambush their own lives.

19 Thus are the ways of all who are greedy for gain—

it will take the life of its possessors.