Proverbs 1
1 The wise sayings of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2 To have knowledge of wise teaching; to be clear about the words of reason:
For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,
3 To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour:
For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,
4 To make the simple-minded sharp, and to give the young man knowledge, and serious purpose:
For giving to simple ones — prudence, To a youth — knowledge and discretion.
5 (The wise man, hearing, will get greater learning, and the acts of the man of good sense will be wisely guided: )
(The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)
6 To get the sense of wise sayings and secrets, and of the words of the wise and their dark sayings.
For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.
7 The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.
Fear of Jehovah [is] a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!
8 My son, give ear to the training of your father, and do not give up the teaching of your mother:
Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,
9 For they will be a crown of grace for your head, and chain-ornaments about your neck.
For a graceful wreath [are] they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.
10 My son, if sinners would take you out of the right way, do not go with them.
My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.
11 If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause;
If they say, 'Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,
12 Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death; (Sheol h7585)
We swallow them as Sheol — alive, And whole — as those going down [to] the pit, (Sheol h7585)
13 Goods of great price will be ours, our houses will be full of wealth;
Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses [with] spoil,
14 Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:
Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is — to all of us.'
15 My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways:
My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,
16 For their feet are running after evil, and they are quick to take a man's life.
For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.
17 Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird:
Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.
18 And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves.
And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.
19 Such is the fate of everyone who goes in search of profit; it takes away the life of its owners.
So [are] the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.
20 Wisdom is crying out in the street; her voice is loud in the open places;
Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,
21 Her words are sounding in the meeting-places, and in the doorways of the town:
At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:
22 How long, you simple ones, will foolish things be dear to you? and pride a delight to the haters of authority? how long will the foolish go on hating knowledge?
'Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?
23 Be turned again by my sharp words: see, I will send the flow of my spirit on you, and make my words clear to you.
Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.
24 Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;
Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,
25 You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:
And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.
26 So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear;
I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,
27 When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you.
When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.
28 Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:
Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.
29 For they were haters of knowledge, and did not give their hearts to the fear of the Lord:
Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.
30 They had no desire for my teaching, and my words of protest were as nothing to them.
They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,
31 So the fruit of their way will be their food, and with the designs of their hearts they will be made full.
And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.
32 For the turning back of the simple from teaching will be the cause of their death, and the peace of the foolish will be their destruction.
For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.
33 But whoever gives ear to me will take his rest safely, living in peace without fear of evil.
And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And [is] quiet from fear of evil!'
