The Proverbs
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1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, the king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to comprehend the sayings of understanding; 3 To accept the instruction of intelligence, righteousness, and justice, and equity; 4 To give to the simple prudence, to the youth knowledge and discretion. 5 The wise will hear, and will increase [his] information; and the man of understanding will obtain wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and a sage sentence; the words of the wise, and their riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: wisdom and instruction fools [alone] despise. 8 Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and cast not off the teaching of thy mother; 9 For a wreath of grace are they unto thy head, and chains for thy throat. 10 My son, if sinners wish to entice thee, consent thou not. 11 If they should say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us watch in concealment for the uselessly innocent; 12 We will swallow them up like the grave alive; and the men of integrity, as those that go down into the pit; 13 We shall find all [kinds of] precious wealth, we will fill our houses with booty; 14 Thy lot must thou cast in our midst; one purse shall be for us all: 15 My son, walk not thou on the way with them; withhold thy foot from their path; 16 For their feet run after evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17 For uselessly is the net spread out before the eyes of every winged bird: 18 While they lie in wait for their [own] blood; they watch in concealment for their [own] lives. 19 So are the paths of every one that is greedy after [unlawful] gain; it taketh away the life of those that own it. 20 Wisdom crieth loudly without; in the public places she uttereth her voice; 21 At the corner of noisy streets she calleth, at the entrances of gates; in the city she sayeth her speeches: 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners take their delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn back to my admonition: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24 Whereas I called, and ye refused; I stretched out my hand, and no man was attentive; 25 And ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would not accept my admonition: 26 [Therefore] I also will truly laugh at your calamity; I will deride [you] when your terror cometh; 27 When your terror cometh like the tempest-cloud, and your calamity hasteneth like a whirlwind; when there come upon you distress and affliction. 28 Then will they call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me earnestly, but they shall not find me; 29 For the reason that they hated knowledge, and the fear of the Lord they did not choose; 30 [That] they would not attend to my counsel: [that] they rejected all my admonition. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and from their own counsels shall they be satisfied. 32 For the defection of the simple will slay them, and the prosperity of fools will cause them to be lost. 33 But he that hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from the dread of evil.