1Proverbs 1

1Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:Select Proverbs 1:1

2For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,Select Proverbs 1:2

3For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,Select Proverbs 1:3

4For giving to simple ones--prudence, To a youth--knowledge and discretion.Select Proverbs 1:4

5(The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)Select Proverbs 1:5

6For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.Select Proverbs 1:6

7Fear of Jehovah is a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!Select Proverbs 1:7

8Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,Select Proverbs 1:8

9For a graceful wreath are they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.Select Proverbs 1:9

10My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.Select Proverbs 1:10

11If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,Select Proverbs 1:11

12We swallow them as Sheol--alive, And whole--as those going down to the pit,Select Proverbs 1:12

13Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses with spoil,Select Proverbs 1:13

14Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is--to all of us.'Select Proverbs 1:14

15My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,Select Proverbs 1:15

16For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.Select Proverbs 1:16

17Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.Select Proverbs 1:17

18And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.Select Proverbs 1:18

19So are the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.Select Proverbs 1:19

20Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,Select Proverbs 1:20

21At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:Select Proverbs 1:21

22`Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?Select Proverbs 1:22

23Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.Select Proverbs 1:23

24Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,Select Proverbs 1:24

25And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.Select Proverbs 1:25

26I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,Select Proverbs 1:26

27When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.Select Proverbs 1:27

28Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.Select Proverbs 1:28

29Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.Select Proverbs 1:29

30They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,Select Proverbs 1:30

31And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.Select Proverbs 1:31

32For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.Select Proverbs 1:32

33And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And is quiet from fear of evil!'Select Proverbs 1:33