[1] The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
[2] To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;
[3] To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;
[4] To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:
[5] That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:
[6] To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
[7] The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
[8] My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:
[9] For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.
[10] My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.
[11] If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily 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] Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse:
[15] My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:
[16] For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.
[17] For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:
[18] And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.
[19] So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
[20] Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places;
[21] She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words:
[22] How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?
[23] Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you.
[24] Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;
[25] But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:
[26] I also will laugh in the day of your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
[27] When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on 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 diligently, but they shall not find me:
[29] For that 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 own way, And be filled with their own devices.
[32] For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.
[33] But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.