The Proverbs

The Proverbs

^1:1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

 ^1:2To know wisdom and instruction;

 To discern the words of understanding;

 ^1:3To receive instruction in wise dealing,

 In righteousness and justice and equity;

 ^1:4To give prudence to the simple,

 To the young man knowledge and discretion:

 ^1:5That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning;

 And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

 ^1:6To understand a proverb, and a figure,

 The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
 
 

 ^1:7The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge;

 But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

 ^1:8My son, hear the instruction of thy father,

 And forsake not the law of thy mother:

 ^1:9For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,

 And chains about thy neck.

 ^1:10My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

 ^1:11If they say, Come with us,

 Let us lay wait for blood;

 Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

 ^1:12Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol,

 And whole, as those that go down into the pit;

 ^1:13We shall find all precious substance;

 We shall fill our houses with spoil;

 ^1:14Thou shalt cast thy lot among us;

 We will all have one purse:

 ^1:15My son, walk not thou in the way with them;

 Refrain thy foot from their path:

 ^1:16For their feet run to evil,

 And they make haste to shed blood.

 ^1:17For in vain is the net spread

 In the sight of any bird:

 ^1:18And these lay wait for their own blood;

 They lurk privily for their own lives.

 ^1:19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;

 It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
 
 

 ^1:20Wisdom crieth aloud in the street;

 She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

 ^1:21She crieth in the chief place of concourse;

 At the entrance of the gates,

 In the city, she uttereth her words:

 ^1:22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

 And scoffers delight them in scoffing,

 And fools hate knowledge?

 ^1:23Turn you at my reproof:

 Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you;

 I will make known my words unto you.

 ^1:24Because I have called, and ye have refused;

 I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

 ^1:25But ye have set at nought all my counsel,

 And would none of my reproof:

 ^1:26I also will laugh in the day of your calamity;

 I will mock when your fear cometh;

 ^1:27When your fear cometh as a storm,

 And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind;

 When distress and anguish come upon you.

 ^1:28Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer;

 They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:

 ^1:29For that they hated knowledge,

 And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:

 ^1:30They would none of my counsel;

 They despised all my reproof.

 ^1:31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

 And be filled with their own devices.

 ^1:32For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them,

 And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

 ^1:33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,

 And shall be quiet without fear of evil.