learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. [1]
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. [2]
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace to thy head, and chains about thy neck. [3]
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; keep thy foot from their path:
16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. [4]
18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; who taketh away the life of its owners.
20 Wisdom crieth outside; she uttereth her voice in the streets: [5]
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn ye at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make known to you my words.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and rejected my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They rejected my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. [6]
33 But whoever hearkeneth to me shall dwell in safety, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
CHAP. 2.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and treasure my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thy ear to wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; [7]
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a shield to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; and, every good path.
10 When wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh perverse things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they are perverse in their paths:
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the adulteress who flattereth with her words;
17 Who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth to death, and her paths to the dead.
19 None that go to her return again, neither do they take hold of the paths of life.
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. [8]
- ↑ the interpretation: or, an eloquent speech
- ↑ the beginning: or, the principal part
- ↑ an...: Heb. an adding
- ↑ in the...: Heb. in the eyes of every thing that hath a wing
- ↑ Wisdom: Heb. Wisdoms, that is, Excellent wisdom
- ↑ turning...: or, ease of the simple
- ↑ liftest...: Heb. givest thy voice
- ↑ rooted: or, plucked up
