Proverbs 1
1
Purpose of Proverbs
1The proverbs of Solomon, King David’s son, from Israel:
2Their purpose is to teach wisdom and discipline,
to help one understand wise sayings.
3They provide insightful instruction,
which is righteous, just, and full of integrity.
4They make the naive mature,
the young knowledgeable and discreet.
5The wise hear them and grow in wisdom;
those with understanding gain guidance.
6They help one understand proverbs and difficult sayings,
the words of the wise, and their puzzles.
7Wisdom begins with the fear of the LORD,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Avoid evil associations
8Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction;
don’t neglect your mother’s teaching;
9for they are a graceful wreath on your head,
and beads for your neck.
10My son, don’t let sinners entice you.
Don’t go
11when they say:
“Come with us.
Let’s set up a deadly ambush.
Let’s secretly wait for the innocent just for fun.
12Let’s swallow up the living like the grave#1.12 Heb Sheol—
whole, like those who go down into the pit.
13We’ll find all sorts of precious wealth;
we’ll fill our houses with plunder.
14Throw in your lot with us;
we’ll share our money.”
15My son, don’t go on the path with them;
keep your feet from their way,
16because their feet run to evil;
they hurry to spill blood.
17It’s useless to cast a net
in the sight of a bird.
18But these sinners set up a deadly ambush;
they lie in wait for their own lives.
19These are the ways of all who seek unjust gain;
it costs them their lives.
Listen to “Woman Wisdom”
20Wisdom shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
21Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
22“How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
23You should respond when I correct you.
Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
24I invited you, but you rejected me;
I stretched out my hand to you,
but you paid no attention.
25You ignored all my advice,
and you didn’t want me to correct you.
26So I’ll laugh at your disaster;
I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
27when terror hits you like a hurricane,
and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
when distress and oppression overcome you.
28Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
they will seek me, but won’t find me
29because they hated knowledge
and didn’t choose the fear of the LORD.
30They didn’t want my advice;
they rejected all my corrections.
31They will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
32The immature will die because they turn away;
smugness will destroy fools.
33Those who obey me will dwell securely,
untroubled by the dread of harm.”
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
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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