| 1 | The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: |
| 2 | For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, |
| 3 | for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; |
| 4 | to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young — |
| 5 | let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, |
| 6 | to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. |
| 7 | The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. |
| 8 | Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching; |
| 9 | for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck. |
| 10 | My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. |
| 11 | If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent; |
| 12 | like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit. |
| 13 | We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty. |
| 14 | Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” — |
| 15 | my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths; |
| 16 | for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood. |
| 17 | For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; |
| 18 | yet they lie in wait — to kill themselves! and set an ambush — for their own lives! |
| 19 | Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. |
| 20 | Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. |
| 21 | At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: |
| 22 | “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? |
| 23 | Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. |
| 24 | Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, |
| 25 | and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, |
| 26 | I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, |
| 27 | when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. |
| 28 | Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me. |
| 29 | Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, |
| 30 | would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, |
| 31 | therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. |
| 32 | For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; |
| 33 | but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.” |