Proverbs - The Old Testament

¹ The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

² for learning what wisdom and discipline are, for understanding words of deep meaning,

³ for acquiring a disciplined insight, uprightness, justice and fair dealing;

⁴ for teaching sound judgement to the simple, and knowledge and reflection to the young;

⁵ Let the wise listen and learn yet more, and a person of discernment will acquire the art of guidance.

⁶ for perceiving the meaning of proverbs and obscure sayings, the sayings of the sages and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline.

⁸ Listen, my child, to your father's instruction, do not reject your mother's teaching:

⁹ they will be a crown of grace for your head, a circlet for your neck.

¹⁰ My child, if sinners try to seduce you, do not go with them.

¹¹ If they say, 'Come with us: let us lie in ambush to shed blood; if we plan an ambush for the innocent without provocation,

¹² we can swallow them alive, like Sheol, and whole, like those who sink into oblivion.

¹³ We shall find treasures of every sort, we shall fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us: one purse between us all.'

¹⁵ My child, do not follow them in their way, keep your steps out of their path

¹⁶ for their feet hasten to evil, they are quick to shed blood;

¹⁷ for the net is spread in vain if any winged creature can see it.

¹⁸ It is for their own blood such people lie in wait, their ambush is against their own selves!

¹⁹ Such are the paths of all who seek dishonest gain: which robs of their lives all who take it for their own.

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the public squares;

²¹ she calls out at the street corners, she delivers her message at the city gates.

²² 'You simple people, how much longer will you cling to your simple ways? How much longer will mockers revel in their mocking and fools go on hating knowledge?

²³ Pay attention to my warning. To you I will pour out my heart and tell you what I have to say.

²⁴ Since I have called and you have refused me, since I have beckoned and no one has taken notice,

²⁵ since you have ignored all my advice and rejected all my warnings,

²⁶ I, for my part, shall laugh at your distress, I shall jeer when terror befalls you,

²⁷ when terror befalls you, like a storm, when your distress arrives, like a whirlwind, when ordeal and anguish bear down on you.

²⁸ Then they will call me, but I shall not answer, they will look eagerly for me and will not find me.

²⁹ They have hated knowledge, they have not chosen the fear of Yahweh,

³⁰ they have taken no notice of my advice, they have spurned all my warnings:

³¹ so they will have to eat the fruits of their own ways of life, and choke themselves with their own scheming.

³² For the errors of the simple lead to their death, the complacency of fools works their own ruin;

³³ but whoever listens to me may live secure, will have quiet, fearing no mischance.'