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[1]THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
[2]To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
[3]To receive discipline, reverence, righteousness, and justice, and equity;
[4]To give subtlety to the simple, to the young men knowledge and discretion.
[5]A wise man will listen and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to leadership;
[6]To understand proverbs and figures of speech; the words of the wise and their dark sayings
[7]The reverence of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise knowledge and instruction.
[8]Hear, my son, the ordinance of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother;
[9]For they shall be an ornament of grace for your head and a necklace about your neck
[10]My son, if sinners entice you, consent not.
[11]If they say to you, Come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood, let us lie in wait for the innocent, wrongfully;
[12]Let us swallow them up alive, as Sheol swallows the living, and whole as those who go down into the pit;
[13]We shall find all his wealth and precious things, we shall fill our houses with spoil;
[14]Cast in your lot with us; let us all have one purse;
[15]My son, do not walk in the way with them; but refrain your foot from their path;
[16]For their feet run to evil, they make haste to shed blood.
[17]Surely in deceit is the net spread in the sight of any bird.
[18]And they lie in wait, they hide themselves to shed blood.
[19]Such are the ways of all who practice iniquity, who take away the life of their owners
[20]Wisdom is glorified in the market places; she raises her voice in the streets:
[21]She preaches in the chief places of the concourse; in the openings of the gates of the city, she utters her words, saying,
[22]How long, you simple ones, will you love childishness? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
[23]If you will turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words to you.
[24]For I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and you did not listen:
[25]But you have despised all my counsels, and you were not pleased with my reproof.
[26]I also will laugh at your calamity; I will rejoice when terror and sudden destruction come upon you;
[27]When your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you,
[28]Then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer them; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me;
[29]Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the worship of the LORD.
[30]They were not pleased with my counsels; they rejected all of my reproof.
[31]Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices.
[32]For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the error of the weak-minded men shall destroy them.
[33]But he who listens to me shall live in hope, and shall refrain from many evils
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