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[1] Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
[2] For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,
[3] For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,
[4] For giving to simple ones -- prudence, To a youth -- knowledge and discretion.
[5] (The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)
[6] For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.
[7] Fear of Jehovah [is] a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!
[8] Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,
[9] For a graceful wreath [are] they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.
[10] My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.
[11] If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,
[12] We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down [to] the pit,
[13] Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses [with] spoil,
[14] Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.'
[15] My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,
[16] For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.
[17] Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.
[18] And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.
[19] So [are] the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.
[20] Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,
[21] At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:
[22] `Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?
[23] Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.
[24] Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,
[25] And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.
[26] I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,
[27] When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.
[28] Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.
[29] Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.
[30] They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,
[31] And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.
[32] For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.
[33] And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And [is] quiet from fear of evil!'
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