Proverbs 1
1 The wise sayings of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, the king of Israel:
2 To have knowledge of wise teaching; to be clear about the words of reason:
To know wisdom and instruction; to comprehend the sayings of understanding;
3 To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour:
To accept the instruction of intelligence, righteousness, and justice, and equity;
4 To make the simple-minded sharp, and to give the young man knowledge, and serious purpose:
To give to the simple prudence, to the 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 will hear, and will increase [his] information; and the man of understanding will obtain wise counsels:
6 To get the sense of wise sayings and secrets, and of the words of the wise and their dark sayings.
To understand a proverb, and a sage sentence; the words of the wise, and their riddles.
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 knowledge: wisdom and instruction fools [alone] despise.
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 cast not off the teaching of thy mother;
9 For they will be a crown of grace for your head, and chain-ornaments about your neck.
For a wreath of grace are they unto thy head, and chains for thy throat.
10 My son, if sinners would take you out of the right way, do not go with them.
My son, if sinners wish to entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause;
If they should say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us watch in concealment for the uselessly innocent;
12 Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death; (Sheol h7585)
We will swallow them up like the grave alive; and the men of integrity, as those that go 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 [kinds of] precious wealth, we will fill our houses with booty;
14 Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:
Thy lot must thou cast in our midst; one purse shall be for us all:
15 My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways:
My son, walk not thou on 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 run after evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
17 Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird:
For uselessly is the net spread out before the eyes of every winged bird:
18 And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves.
While they lie in wait for their [own] blood; they watch in concealment 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 one that is greedy after [unlawful] gain; it taketh away the life of those that own it.
20 Wisdom is crying out in the street; her voice is loud in the open places;
Wisdom crieth loudly without; in the public places she uttereth her voice;
21 Her words are sounding in the meeting-places, and in the doorways of the town:
At the corner of noisy streets she calleth, at the entrances of gates; in the city she sayeth her speeches:
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?
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners take their delight in scorning, and 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 to my admonition: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;
Whereas I called, and ye refused; I stretched out my hand, and no man was attentive;
25 You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:
And ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would not accept my admonition:
26 So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear;
[Therefore] I also will truly laugh at your calamity; I will deride [you] when your terror 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 terror cometh like the tempest-cloud, and your calamity hasteneth like a whirlwind; when there come upon you distress and affliction.
28 Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:
Then will they call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me earnestly, but they shall not find me;
29 For they were haters of knowledge, and did not give their hearts to the fear of the Lord:
For the reason that they hated knowledge, and the fear of the Lord they did not choose;
30 They had no desire for my teaching, and my words of protest were as nothing to them.
[That] they would not attend to my counsel: [that] they rejected all my admonition.
31 So the fruit of their way will be their food, and with the designs of their hearts they will be made full.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and from their own counsels shall they be satisfied.
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 defection of the simple will slay them, and the prosperity of fools will cause them to be lost.
33 But whoever gives ear to me will take his rest safely, living in peace without fear of evil.
But he that hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from the dread of evil.
