Chapter 1

The Usefulness of Proverbs

1 The aproverbs of Solomon bthe son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know awisdom and instruction,

To discern the sayings of bunderstanding,

3 To areceive instruction in wise behavior,

bRighteousness, justice and equity;

4 To give aprudence to the 1naive,

To the youth bknowledge and discretion,

5 A wise man will hear and aincrease in learning,

And a bman of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

6 To understand a proverb and a figure,

The words of the wise and their ariddles.

7 aThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sinners

8 aHear, my son, your father’s instruction

And bdo not forsake your mother’s teaching;

9 Indeed, they are a agraceful wreath to your head

And 1bornaments about your neck.

10 My son, if sinners aentice you,

bDo not consent.

11 If they say, “Come with us,

Let us alie in wait for blood,

Let us bambush the innocent without cause;

12 Let us aswallow them alive like Sheol,

Even whole, as those who bgo down to the pit;

13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth,

We will fill our houses with spoil;

14 Throw in your lot 1with us,

We shall all have one purse,”

15 My son, ado not walk in the way with them.

bKeep your feet from their path,

16 For atheir feet run to evil

And they hasten to shed blood.

17 Indeed, it is 1useless to spread the baited net

In the sight of any 2bird;

18 But they alie in wait for their own blood;

They ambush their own lives.

19 So are the ways of everyone who agains by violence;

It takes away the life of its possessors.

Wisdom Warns

20 aWisdom shouts in the street,

She 1lifts her voice in the square;

21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

22 “How long, O 1anaive ones, will you love 2being simple-minded?

And bscoffers delight themselves in scoffing

And fools chate knowledge?

23 “Turn to my reproof,

Behold, I will apour out my spirit on you;

I will make my words known to you.

24 “Because aI called and you brefused,

I cstretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

25 And you aneglected all my counsel

And did not bwant my reproof;

26 I will also alaugh at your bcalamity;

I will mock when your cdread comes,

27 When your dread comes like a storm

And your calamity comes like a awhirlwind,

When distress and anguish come upon you.

28 “Then they will acall on me, but I will not answer;

They will bseek me diligently but they will not find me,

29 Because they ahated knowledge

And did not choose the fear of the Lord.

30 “They awould not accept my counsel,

They spurned all my reproof.

31 “So they shall aeat of the fruit of their own way

And be bsatiated with their own devices.

32 “For the awaywardness of the 1naive will kill them,

And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

33 “But ahe who listens to me shall 1live securely

And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”