Proverbs 1–2

¹Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: ²For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence, ³For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness, ⁴For giving to simple ones—prudence, To a youth—knowledge and discretion. ⁵(The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.) ⁶For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.

⁷Fear of Jehovah is a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised! ⁸Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother, ⁹For a graceful wreath are they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing. ¹¹If they say, ‘Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause, ¹²We swallow them as Sheol—alive, And whole—as those going down to the pit, ¹³Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses with spoil, ¹⁴Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is—to all of us.’ ¹⁵My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path, ¹⁶For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood. ¹⁷Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird. ¹⁸And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives. ¹⁹So are the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.

²⁰Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice, ²¹At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith: ²²‘Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge? ²³Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you. ²⁴Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending, ²⁵And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired. ²⁶I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh, ²⁷When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress. ²⁸Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not. ²⁹Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen. ³⁰They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof, ³¹And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled. ³²For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them. ³³And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And is quiet from fear of evil!’

Chapter 2

¹My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee, ²To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding, ³For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice, ⁴If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her, ⁵Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest. ⁶For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding. ⁷Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly. ⁸To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth. ⁹Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant, ¹¹Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee, ¹²To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things, ¹³Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness, ¹⁴Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked, ¹⁵Whose paths are crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways. ¹⁶To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings, ¹⁷Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten. ¹⁸For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths. ¹⁹None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life. ²⁰That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep. ²¹For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it, ²²And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!

Chapter 3