< 箴言 4 >
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
2 因為我把好教訓授給你們,你們不要拋棄我的規勸。
For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not my teaching.
3 我也曾在父親面前作過孝子,在我母親膝下是唯一的嬌兒。
For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.
4 我父曾訓誨我說:你應留心牢記我的話,遵守我的命令,好使你生存;
And he taught me, and said unto me: 'Let thy heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments, and live;
5 你應緊握智慧,握住明智,不要忘記,也不要離棄我口中的教訓:
Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;
6 你若不捨棄她,她必護佑你;你若喜愛她,她必看顧你。
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; love her, and she will keep thee.
7 首先應爭取的是智慧,因此你應尋求智慧,應犧牲一切去爭取明智。
The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom; yea, with all thy getting get understanding.
8 你若顯揚智慧,智慧也必顯揚你;你若懷抱她,她也必光榮你:
Extol her, and she will exalt thee; she will bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow on thee.'
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.
12 這樣,你若行走,你的腳決不會受阻礙;即便你奔馳,也決不致顛仆。
When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
13 你要堅持教訓,切勿把她拋棄;你應保存她,因為她是你的生命。
Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.
14 惡人的道路,你不要進去;壞人的途徑,你不要踏入;
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.
16 因為他們不作惡,不能入睡;不使人跌倒,就要失眠。
For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 但是,義人的途徑,像黎明的曙光,越來越明亮,直至成日中;
But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19 惡人的道路,卻宛如幽暗,他們不知道,要跌在何處。
The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.
22 因為,凡找著她的,必獲得生命;他整個身軀,必獲得健康。
For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 在一切之上,你要謹守你的心,因為生命是由此而生。
Above all that thou guardest keep thy heart; for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Make plain the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.