| 1 | Listen, children, to a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight; |
| 2 | for I give you good precepts: do not forsake my teaching. |
| 3 | When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother’s favorite, |
| 4 | he taught me, and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. |
| 5 | Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. |
| 6 | Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. |
| 7 | The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight. |
| 8 | Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. |
| 9 | She will place on your head a fair garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” |
| 10 | Hear, my child, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. |
| 11 | I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. |
| 12 | When you walk, your step will not be hampered; and if you run, you will not stumble. |
| 13 | Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. |
| 14 | Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evildoers. |
| 15 | Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. |
| 16 | For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. |
| 17 | For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. |
| 18 | But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. |
| 19 | The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what they stumble over. |
| 20 | My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. |
| 21 | Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. |
| 22 | For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. |
| 23 | Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. |
| 24 | Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. |
| 25 | Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. |
| 26 | Keep straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure. |
| 27 | Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. |