The Beginning of Knowledge

¹aThe proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

²To know wisdom and instruction,

to understand words of insight,

³to receive instruction in wise dealing,

in brighteousness, justice, and equity;

⁴to give prudence to cthe simple,

knowledge and ddiscretion to the youth—

⁵Let the wise hear and eincrease in learning,

and the one who understands obtain guidance,

⁶to understand a proverb and a saying,

fthe words of the wise and their griddles.

⁷hThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sinners

⁸iHear, my son, your father's instruction,

and forsake not your mother's teaching,

⁹for they are ja graceful garland for your head

and kpendants for your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners lentice you,

do not consent.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, mlet us lie in wait for blood;

nlet us ambush the innocent without reason;

¹²like Sheol let us oswallow them alive,

and whole, like pthose who go down to the pit;

¹³we shall find all precious goods,

we shall fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴throw in your lot among us;

we will all have one purse”—

¹⁵my son, qdo not walk in the way with them;

rhold back your foot from their paths,

¹⁶for stheir feet run to evil,

and they make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷tFor in vain is a net spread

in the sight of any bird,

¹⁸but these men ulie in wait for their own blood;

they uset an ambush for their own lives.

¹⁹vSuch are the ways of everyone who is wgreedy for unjust gain;

xit takes away the life of its possessors.

The Call of Wisdom

²⁰yWisdom cries aloud in the street,

in the markets she raises her voice;

²¹at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

at zthe entrance of the city gates she speaks:

²²“How long, O asimple ones, will you love being simple?

How long will bscoffers delight in their scoffing

and fools chate knowledge?

²³If you turn at my reproof,1

behold, I will dpour out my spirit to you;

I will make my words known to you.

²⁴eBecause I have called and fyou refused to listen,

have gstretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

²⁵because you have hignored all my counsel

and iwould have none of my reproof,

²⁶I also jwill laugh at your calamity;

I will mock when kterror strikes you,

²⁷when terror strikes you like la storm

and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸mThen they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

²⁹Because they chated knowledge

and ndid not choose the fear of the Lord,

³⁰hwould have none of my counsel

and idespised all my reproof,

³¹therefore they shall eat othe fruit of their way,

and have ptheir fill of their own devices.

³²For the simple are killed by qtheir turning away,

and rthe complacency of fools destroys them;

³³but swhoever listens to me will dwell secure

and will be tat ease, without dread of disaster.”

The Value of Wisdom

¹uMy son, vif you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

²making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

³yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice wfor understanding,

⁴if you seek it like xsilver

and search for it as for yhidden treasures,

⁵then zyou will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For athe Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is ba shield to those who cwalk in integrity,

⁸guarding the paths of justice

and dwatching over the way of his esaints.

⁹fThen you will understand grighteousness and justice

and equity, every good path;

¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

¹¹hdiscretion will iwatch over you,

understanding will guard you,

¹²delivering you from the way of evil,

from men of perverted speech,

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness

to jwalk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴who krejoice in doing evil

and ldelight in the perverseness of evil,

¹⁵men whose mpaths are crooked,

nand who are odevious in their ways.

¹⁶So pyou will be delivered from the forbidden1 woman,

from qthe adulteress2 with rher smooth words,

¹⁷who forsakes sthe companion of her youth

and forgets tthe covenant of her God;

¹⁸ufor her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the departed;3

¹⁹none who go to her come back,

nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰So you will walk in the way of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright vwill inhabit the land,

and those with integrity will remain in it,

²²but the wicked will be wcut off from the land,

and the treacherous will be xrooted out of it.

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

¹yMy son, do not forget my teaching,

zbut let your heart keep my commandments,

²for alength of days and years of life

and bpeace they will add to you.

³Let not csteadfast love and dfaithfulness forsake you;

ebind them around your neck;

fwrite them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴So you will gfind favor and hgood success1

in the sight of God and man.

⁵iTrust in the Lord with all your heart,

and jdo not lean on your own understanding.

⁶In all your ways kacknowledge him,

and he lwill make straight your paths.

⁷mBe not wise in your own eyes;

nfear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

⁸It will be ohealing to your flesh2

and prefreshment3 to your bones.

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth

and with qthe firstfruits of all your produce;

¹⁰then your rbarns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will be bursting with wine.

¹¹sMy son, do not despise the Lord's discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

¹²for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,

as ta father the son in whom he delights.

Blessed Is the One Who Finds Wisdom

¹³uBlessed is the one who finds wisdom,

and the one who gets understanding,

¹⁴vfor the gain from her is better than gain from silver

and her profit better than wgold.

¹⁵She is more precious than xjewels,

and ynothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶zLong life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are ariches and honor.

¹⁷Her bways are ways of pleasantness,

and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is ca tree of life to those who dlay hold of her;

those who hold her fast are called blessed.

¹⁹eThe Lord by wisdom founded the earth;

by understanding ehe established the heavens;

²⁰by his knowledge fthe deeps broke open,

and gthe clouds drop down the dew.

²¹My son, hdo not lose sight of these—

keep sound wisdom and discretion,

²²and they will be ilife for your soul

and jadornment for your neck.

²³kThen you will walk on your way securely,

land your foot will not stumble.

²⁴mIf you lie down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, nyour sleep will be sweet.

²⁵oDo not be afraid of sudden terror

or of pthe ruin4 of the wicked, when it comes,

²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence

and will qkeep your foot from being caught.

²⁷rDo not withhold good from those to whom it is due,5

when it is in your power to do it.

²⁸sDo not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,

tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

²⁹tDo not plan evil against your neighbor,

who udwells trustingly beside you.

³⁰vDo not contend with a man for no reason,

when he has done you no harm.

³¹wDo not envy xa man of violence

and do not choose any of his ways,

³²for ythe devious person is an abomination to the Lord,

but the upright are zin his confidence.

³³aThe Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,

but he bblesses the dwelling of the righteous.

³⁴Toward the cscorners he dis scornful,

ebut to the humble he gives favor.6

³⁵The wise will inherit honor,

but fools get7 disgrace.

A Father's Wise Instruction

¹fHear, O sons, a father's instruction,

and be attentive, that you may ggain1 insight,

²for I give you good hprecepts;

do not forsake my teaching.

³When I was a son with my father,

itender, jthe only one in the sight of my mother,

⁴he ktaught me and said to me,

l“Let your heart hold fast my words;

mkeep my commandments, and live.

⁵nGet wisdom; get ginsight;

do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

olove her, and she will guard you.

⁷pThe beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

and whatever you get, get ginsight.

⁸Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;

she will qhonor you rif you embrace her.

⁹She will place on your head sa graceful garland;

she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰fHear, tmy son, and accept my words,

that uthe years of your life may be many.

¹¹I have vtaught you the way of wisdom;

I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

¹²When you walk, wyour step will not be hampered,

and xif you run, you will not stumble.

¹³yKeep hold of instruction; do not let go;

guard her, for she is your zlife.

¹⁴aDo not enter the path of the wicked,

and do not walk in the way of the evil.

¹⁵Avoid it; do not go on it;

turn away from it and pass on.

¹⁶For they bcannot sleep unless they have done wrong;

they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness

cand drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But dthe path of the righteous is like ethe light of dawn,

which shines fbrighter and brighter until gfull day.

¹⁹hThe way of the wicked is like deep idarkness;

they do not know over what they jstumble.

²⁰kMy son, be attentive to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

²¹lLet them not escape from your sight;

mkeep them within your heart.

²²For they are nlife to those who find them,

and healing to all their2 flesh.

²³Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for ofrom it flow pthe springs of life.

²⁴Put away from you qcrooked speech,

and put rdevious talk far from you.

²⁵sLet your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

²⁶tPonder3 the path of your feet;

uthen all your ways will be sure.

²⁷vDo not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your foot away from evil.

Warning Against Adultery

¹wMy son, be attentive to my wisdom;

xincline your ear to my understanding,

²that you may keep ydiscretion,

and your lips may zguard knowledge.

³For the lips of aa forbidden1 woman drip honey,

and her speech2 is bsmoother than oil,

⁴but in the end she is cbitter as dwormwood,

esharp as fa two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet ggo down to death;

her steps follow the path to3 Sheol;

⁶she hdoes not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And inow, O sons, listen to me,

and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Keep your way far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others

and your years to the merciless,

¹⁰lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

and your jlabors go to the house of a foreigner,

¹¹and at the end of your life you kgroan,

when your flesh and body are consumed,

¹²and you say, l“How I hated discipline,

and my heart mdespised reproof!

¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my instructors.

¹⁴nI am at the brink of utter ruin

in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵Drink owater from your own cistern,

flowing water from your own well.

¹⁶Should your psprings be scattered abroad,

streams of water qin the streets?

¹⁷rLet them be for yourself alone,

and not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your ofountain be blessed,

and srejoice in tthe wife of your youth,

¹⁹a lovely udeer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts vfill you at all times with delight;

be intoxicated4 always in her love.

²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with wa forbidden woman

and embrace the bosom of wan adulteress?5

²¹For xa man's ways are ybefore the eyes of the Lord,

and he zponders6 all his paths.

²²The ainiquities of the wicked bensnare him,

and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.

²³cHe dies for lack of discipline,

and because of his great folly he is dled astray.