• Invitations of Wisdom and Folly

  • 1 Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars.
  • 2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
  • 3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city,
  • 4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says,
  • 5 “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.
  • 6 Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.”
  • 7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
  • 8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
  • 9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
  • 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
  • 11 For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.
  • 12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
  • 13 Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing.
  • 14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,
  • 15 calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way,
  • 16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says,
  • 17 “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!”
  • 18 But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.