THE PROVERBS

Chapter 1

The Usefulness of Proverbs

1 The aproverbs of Solomon bthe son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know awisdom and instruction,

To discern the sayings of bunderstanding,

3 To areceive instruction in wise behavior,

bRighteousness, justice and equity;

4 To give aprudence to the 1naive,

To the youth bknowledge and discretion,

5 A wise man will hear and aincrease in learning,

And a bman of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

6 To understand a proverb and a figure,

The words of the wise and their ariddles.

7 aThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sinners

8 aHear, my son, your father’s instruction

And bdo not forsake your mother’s teaching;

9 Indeed, they are a agraceful wreath to your head

And 1bornaments about your neck.

10 My son, if sinners aentice you,

bDo not consent.

11 If they say, “Come with us,

Let us alie in wait for blood,

Let us bambush the innocent without cause;

12 Let us aswallow them alive like Sheol,

Even whole, as those who bgo down to the pit;

13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth,

We will fill our houses with spoil;

14 Throw in your lot 1with us,

We shall all have one purse,”

15 My son, ado not walk in the way with them.

bKeep your feet from their path,

16 For atheir feet run to evil

And they hasten to shed blood.

17 Indeed, it is 1useless to spread the baited net

In the sight of any 2bird;

18 But they alie in wait for their own blood;

They ambush their own lives.

19 So are the ways of everyone who agains by violence;

It takes away the life of its possessors.

Wisdom Warns

20 aWisdom shouts in the street,

She 1lifts her voice in the square;

21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

22 “How long, O 1anaive ones, will you love 2being simple-minded?

And bscoffers delight themselves in scoffing

And fools chate knowledge?

23 “Turn to my reproof,

Behold, I will apour out my spirit on you;

I will make my words known to you.

24 “Because aI called and you brefused,

I cstretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

25 And you aneglected all my counsel

And did not bwant my reproof;

26 I will also alaugh at your bcalamity;

I will mock when your cdread comes,

27 When your dread comes like a storm

And your calamity comes like a awhirlwind,

When distress and anguish come upon you.

28 “Then they will acall on me, but I will not answer;

They will bseek me diligently but they will not find me,

29 Because they ahated knowledge

And did not choose the fear of the Lord.

30 “They awould not accept my counsel,

They spurned all my reproof.

31 “So they shall aeat of the fruit of their own way

And be bsatiated with their own devices.

32 “For the awaywardness of the 1naive will kill them,

And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

33 “But ahe who listens to me shall 1live securely

And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Chapter 2

The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

1 My son, if you will areceive my words

And btreasure my commandments within you,

2 aMake your ear attentive to wisdom,

Incline your heart to understanding;

3 For if you cry for discernment,

1Lift your voice for understanding;

4 If you seek her as asilver

And search for her as for bhidden treasures;

5 Then you will discern the afear of the Lord

And discover the knowledge of God.

6 For athe Lord gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a ashield to those who walk in integrity,

8 Guarding the paths of justice,

And He apreserves the way of His godly ones.

9 Then you will discern arighteousness and justice

And equity and every bgood course.

10 For awisdom will enter your heart

And bknowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

11 Discretion will aguard you,

Understanding will watch over you,

12 To adeliver you from the way of evil,

From the man who speaks bperverse things;

13 From those who aleave the paths of uprightness

To walk in the bways of darkness;

14 Who adelight in doing evil

And rejoice in the perversity of evil;

15 Whose paths are acrooked,

And who are devious in their ways;

16 To adeliver you from the strange woman,

From the 1badulteress who flatters with her words;

17 That leaves the acompanion of her youth

And forgets the bcovenant of her God;

18 For aher house 1sinks down to death

And her tracks lead to the 2dead;

19 None awho go to her return again,

Nor do they reach the bpaths of life.

20 So you will awalk in the way of good men

And keep to the bpaths of the righteous.

21 For athe upright will 1live in the land

And bthe blameless will remain in it;

22 But athe wicked will be cut off from the land

And bthe treacherous will be cuprooted from it.