[1] These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,
[2] for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,
[3] and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.
[4] To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young,
[5] let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
[6] by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
[7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
[8] Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
[9] For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.
[10] My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.
[11] If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
[12] let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
[13] We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.
[14] Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”—
[15] my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.
[16] For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
[17] How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!
[18] But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.
[19] Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
[20] Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;
[21] in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:
[22] “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
[23] If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.
[24] Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
[25] because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,
[26] in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
[27] when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.
[28] Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
[29] For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.
[30] They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.
[31] So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
[32] For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
[33] But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”