Proverbs 1
1
Introduction
1These are the proverbs of Solomon, the son of David and king of Israel. 2They will help you learn to be wise, to accept correction, and to understand wise sayings. 3They will teach you to develop your mind in the right way. You will learn to do what is right and to be honest and fair. 4These proverbs will make even those without education smart. They will teach young people what they need to know and how to use what they have learned. 5Even the wise could become wiser by listening to these proverbs. They will gain understanding and learn to solve difficult problems. 6These sayings will help you understand proverbs, stories with hidden meanings, words of the wise, and other difficult sayings.
7Knowledge begins with fear and respect for the Lord, but stubborn fools hate wisdom and refuse to learn.
Advice to a Son
8My son,#1:8 My son The proverbs in this section may have been directed originally to a teenage boy, perhaps a prince, who was becoming a young man. They are intended to teach him how to be a responsible person and leader who loves and respects God. listen to your father when he corrects you, and don’t ignore what your mother teaches you. 9What you learn from your parents will bring you honor and respect, like a crown or a gold medal.#1:9 Literally, “They are like a wreath of favor to your head and a necklace around your neck.”
10My son, those who love to do wrong will try to trick you. Don’t listen to them. 11They will say, “Come with us. Let’s hide and beat to death anyone who happens to walk by. 12We will swallow them whole, as the grave swallows the dying. 13We will take everything they have and fill our houses with stolen goods. 14So join us, and you can share everything we get.”
15My son, don’t follow them. Don’t even take the first step along that path. 16They run to do something evil, and they cannot wait to kill someone.
17You cannot trap birds with a net if they see you spreading it out. 18But evil people cannot see the trap they set for themselves. 19This is what happens to those who are greedy. Whatever they get destroys them.
The Good Woman—Wisdom
20Listen! Wisdom#1:20 Wisdom Wisdom is pictured here as a good woman trying to get the attention of this young man, calling him to be wise and obey God. In a later passage (9:13-18), Foolishness is represented as another woman who is urging him toward a life of sin. is shouting in the streets. She is crying out in the marketplace. 21She is calling out where the noisy crowd gathers:
22“Fools, how long will you love being ignorant? How long will you make fun of wisdom? How long will you hate knowledge? 23I wanted to tell you everything I knew and give you all my knowledge, but you didn’t listen to my advice and teaching.
24“I tried to help, but you refused to listen. I offered my hand, but you turned away from me. 25You ignored my advice and refused to be corrected. 26So I will laugh at your troubles and make fun of you when what you fear happens. 27Disasters will strike you like a storm. Problems will pound you like a strong wind. Trouble and misery will weigh you down.
28“Fools will call for me, but I will not answer. They will look for me, but they will not find me. 29That is because they hated knowledge. They refused to fear and respect the Lord. 30They ignored my advice and refused to be corrected. 31They filled their lives with what they wanted. They went their own way, so they will get what they deserve.
32“Fools die because they refuse to follow wisdom. They are content to follow their foolish ways, and that will destroy them. 33But those who listen to me will live in safety and comfort. They will have nothing to fear.”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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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