Proverbs, 1

1:1 These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,

1:2 for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,

1:3 and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.

1:4 To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young,

1:5 let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel

1:6 by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.

1:9 For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.

1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

1:11 If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

1:12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.

1:13 We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.

1:14 Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”—

1:15 my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.

1:16 For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

1:17 How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!

1:18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.

1:19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

1:20 Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;

1:21 in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:

1:22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

1:23 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.

1:24 Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,

1:25 because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,

1:26 in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,

1:27 when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

1:28 Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

1:29 For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.

1:30 They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.

1:31 So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

1:32 For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

1:33 But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”