• To Know Wisdom

  • 1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
  • 2 To know wisdom and discipline, To understand the sayings of understanding,
  • 3 To receive discipline that leads to insight, Righteousness, justice, and equity,
  • 4 To give prudence to the simple, To the youth knowledge and discretion;
  • 5 Let the wise man hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire guidance,
  • 6 To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.
  • 7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.

  • The Enticement of Sinners

  • 8 Hear, my son, your father’s discipline And do not abandon your mother’s instruction;
  • 9 For they are a garland of grace for your head And ornaments about your neck.
  • 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not be willing.
  • 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause;
  • 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, as those who go down to the pit;
  • 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil;
  • 14 Cast in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,”
  • 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Withhold your feet from their pathway,
  • 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood.
  • 17 For it is no use that a net is spread In the sight of any bird;
  • 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives.
  • 19 So are the paths of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its possessors.

  • The Call of Wisdom

  • 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She gives forth her voice in the square;
  • 21 At the head of the noisy streets she calls out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
  • 22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?
  • 23 “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
  • 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;
  • 25 And you neglected all my counsel And were not willing to accept my reproof;
  • 26 I will also laugh at your disaster; I will mock when your dread comes,
  • 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your disaster comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
  • 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me earnestly but they will not find me,
  • 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of Yahweh.
  • 30 “They were not willing to accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof.
  • 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their way And be satisfied with their own devices.
  • 32 “For the turning away of the simple will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
  • 33 “But he who listens to me shall dwell securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”