Proverbs 1
1 The wise sayings of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
2 To have knowledge of wise teaching; to be clear about the words of reason:
To know wisdom, and instruction:
3 To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour:
To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:
4 To make the simple-minded sharp, and to give the young man knowledge, and serious purpose:
To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding.
5 (The wise man, hearing, will get greater learning, and the acts of the man of good sense will be wisely guided: )
A wise man shall hear and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth, shall possess governments.
6 To get the sense of wise sayings and secrets, and of the words of the wise and their dark sayings.
He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.
7 The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, give ear to the training of your father, and do not give up the teaching of your mother:
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For they will be a crown of grace for your head, and chain-ornaments about your neck.
That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold 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 shall entice thee, consent not to them.
11 If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause;
If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares 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)
Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit. (Sheol h7585)
13 Goods of great price will be ours, our houses will be full of wealth;
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils.
14 Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:
Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.
15 My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways:
My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths.
16 For their feet are running after evil, and they are quick to take a man's life.
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird:
But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.
18 And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves.
And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls.
19 Such is the fate of everyone who goes in search of profit; it takes away the life of its owners.
So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.
20 Wisdom is crying out in the street; her voice is loud in the open places;
Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 Her words are sounding in the meeting-places, and in the doorways of the town:
At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:
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?
O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise 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 ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.
24 Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;
Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded.
25 You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:
You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions.
26 So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear;
I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.
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 sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you:
28 Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:
Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me:
29 For they were haters of knowledge, and did not give their hearts to the fear of the Lord:
Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord,
30 They had no desire for my teaching, and my words of protest were as nothing to them.
Nor consented to my counsel, but 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.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices.
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.
The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoever gives ear to me will take his rest safely, living in peace without fear of evil.
But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.
