Proverbs 4
1 Listen, sons, to a father's instruction, and pay attention so you will know what understanding is.
Hear, ye children, the correction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
2 I am giving you good instructions; do not forsake my teaching.
For good information do I give you: my teaching must ye not forsake.
3 When I was a son of my father, the tender and only child of my mother,
For I was a son unto my father, a tender and an only child before my mother.
4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast to my words; keep my commands and live.
And he instructed me, and said unto me, Let thy heart grasp firmly my words: observe my commandments and live.
5 Acquire wisdom and understanding; do not forget and do not reject the words of my mouth;
Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding: forget not, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
6 do not abandon wisdom and she will watch over you; love her and she will keep you safe.
Forsake her not, and she will watch over thee: love her, and she will keep thee.
7 Wisdom is the most important thing, so acquire wisdom and spend all you own so you can get understanding.
The beginning of wisdom is, Acquire wisdom: and with all thy acquisition acquire understanding.
8 Cherish wisdom and she will exalt you; she will honor you when you embrace her.
Hold her in high esteem, and she will exalt thee: she will bring thee to honor, when thou embracest her.
9 She will put a wreath of honor on your head; she will give you a beautiful crown.”
She will give to thy head a wreath of grace: a crown of ornament will she deliver to thee.
10 Listen, my son, and pay attention to my words, and you will have many years in your life.
Hear, O my son, and accept my sayings: and they will increase unto thee the years of life.
11 I direct you in the way of wisdom; I lead you down straight paths.
In the way of wisdom have I instructed thee: I have led thee in the tracks of uprightness.
12 When you walk, no one will stand in your way and if you run, you will not stumble.
When thou walkest, thy step shall not be narrowed; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it, for it is your life.
Lay fast hold of correction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
14 Do not follow the path of the wicked and do not go along the way of those who do evil.
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and step not on the way of the bad.
15 Avoid it, do not go on it; turn away from it and go another way.
Avoid it, pass not through by it, turn off from it, and pass away.
16 For they cannot sleep until they do evil and they are robbed of sleep until they cause someone to stumble.
For they sleep not, except they have done evil, and their sleep is robbed away, unless they cause some to stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
For they eat the bread of wickedness; and the wine of violence do they drink.
18 But the path of righteous people is like the first light that grows brighter; it shines more and more until the fullness of the day comes.
But the path of the righteous is as the early morning light, that shineth more and more brightly until the height of noonday.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness— they do not know what it is they stumble over.
The way of the wicked is like darkness: they know not against what they stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
My son, attend to my words, unto my sayings incline thy ear.
21 Do not let them turn away from your eyes; keep them in your heart.
Let them not slip away from thy eyes: guard them in the midst of thy heart.
22 For my words are life to those who find them and health to their whole body.
For they are life unto every one of those that find them, and to all his body a healing.
23 Keep your heart safe and guard it with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
Above all that is to be guarded, keep thy heart, for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put crooked speech away from you and put corrupt talk far from you.
Remove from thee frowardness of mouth; and perverseness of lips put away far from thee.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead and fix your gaze straight before you.
Let thy eyes look right forward, and let thy eyelids see straight out before thee.
26 Make a level path for your foot; then all your ways will be secure.
Balance well the track of thy foot, and let all thy ways be firmly right.
27 Do not turn aside to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
