Proverbs 1
1
The Purpose of Proverbs
1These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.
2Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.
3Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,
to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
4These proverbs will give insight to the simple,
knowledge and discernment to the young.
5Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.
Let those with understanding receive guidance
6by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
A Father’s Exhortation: Acquire Wisdom
8My child,#1:8 Hebrew My son; also in 1:10, 15. listen when your father corrects you.
Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
9What you learn from them will crown you with grace
and be a chain of honor around your neck.
10My child, if sinners entice you,
turn your back on them!
11They may say, “Come and join us.
Let’s hide and kill someone!
Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!
12Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave#1:12 Hebrew like Sheol.;
let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
13Think of the great things we’ll get!
We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.
14Come, throw in your lot with us;
we’ll all share the loot.”
15My child, don’t go along with them!
Stay far away from their paths.
16They rush to commit evil deeds.
They hurry to commit murder.
17If a bird sees a trap being set,
it knows to stay away.
18But these people set an ambush for themselves;
they are trying to get themselves killed.
19Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money;
it robs them of life.
Wisdom Shouts in the Streets
20Wisdom shouts in the streets.
She cries out in the public square.
21She calls to the crowds along the main street,
to those gathered in front of the city gate:
22“How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish your mocking?
How long will you fools hate knowledge?
23Come and listen to my counsel.
I’ll share my heart with you
and make you wise.
24“I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come.
I reached out to you, but you paid no attention.
25You ignored my advice
and rejected the correction I offered.
26So I will laugh when you are in trouble!
I will mock you when disaster overtakes you—
27when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone,
and anguish and distress overwhelm you.
28“When they cry for help, I will not answer.
Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me.
29For they hated knowledge
and chose not to fear the Lord.
30They rejected my advice
and paid no attention when I corrected them.
31Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,
choking on their own schemes.
32For simpletons turn away from me—to death.
Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
33But all who listen to me will live in peace,
untroubled by fear of harm.”
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Proverbs 1: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Proverbs 1
1
1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2To know wisdom and instruction;
to discern the words of understanding;
3To receive instruction in wise dealing,
In righteousness and judgement and equity;
4To give subtilty to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion:
5That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning;
And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:
6To understand a proverb, and a figure;
The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:
But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
8My son, hear the instruction of thy father,
And forsake not the law of thy mother:
9For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,
And chains about thy neck.
10My son, if sinners entice thee,
Consent thou not.
11If they say, Come with us,
Let us lay wait for blood,
Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;
12Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol,
And whole, as those that go down into the pit;
13We shall find all precious substance,
We shall fill our houses with spoil;
14Thou shalt cast thy lot among us;
We will all have one purse:
15My son, walk not thou in the way with them;
Refrain thy foot from their path:
16For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
17For in vain is the net spread, in the eyes of any bird:
18And these lay wait for their own blood,
They lurk privily for their own lives.
19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;
It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20Wisdom crieth aloud in the street;
She uttereth her voice in the broad places;
21She crieth in the chief place of concourse;
At the entering in of the gates,
In the city, she uttereth her words:
22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And scorners delight them in scorning,
And fools hate knowledge?
23Turn you at my reproof:
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.
24Because I have called, and ye refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25But ye have set at nought all my counsel,
And would none of my reproof:
26I also will laugh in the day of your calamity;
I will mock when your fear cometh;
27When your fear cometh as a storm,
And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind;
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
They shall seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:
29For that they hated knowledge,
And did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30They would none of my counsel;
They despised all my reproof:
31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,
And be filled with their own devices.
32For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them,
And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,
And shall be quiet without fear of evil.
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