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[1]Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
[2]to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;
[3]to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity;
[4]to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
[5]He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels:
[6]to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas.
[7]The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction.
[8]Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;
[9]for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
[10]My son, if sinners entice thee, consent not.
[11]If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
[12]let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those that go down into the pit;
[13]we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
[14]cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse:
[15]-- my son, walk not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path;
[16]for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
[17]For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings.
[18]And these lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.
[19]So are the paths of every one that is greedy of gain: it taketh away the life of its possessors.
[20]Wisdom crieth without; she raiseth her voice in the broadways;
[21]she calleth in the chief [place] of concourse, in the entry of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words:
[22]How long, simple ones, will ye love simpleness, and scorners take pleasure in their scorning, and the foolish hate knowledge?
[23]Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour forth my spirit unto you, I will make known to you my words.
[24]Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded;
[25]and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
[26]I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh;
[27]when your fear cometh as sudden destruction, and your calamity cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you:
[28]-- then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me early, and shall not find me.
[29]Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah;
[30]they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof:
[31]therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices.
[32]For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish.
[33]But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil.
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