Proverbs 1

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

² for learning what wisdom and discipline are, for understanding words of deep meaning,

³ for acquiring an enlightened attitude of mind-virtue, justice and fair-dealing;

⁴ for teaching sound judgement to the ignorant, and knowledge and sense to the young;

⁶ for perceiving the meaning of proverbs and obscure sayings, the sayings of the sages and their riddles.

⁵ Let the wise listen and he will learn yet more, and the man of discernment will acquire the art of guidance.

⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline.

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, do not reject your mother’s teaching:

⁹ they will be a crown of grace for your head, a circlet for your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners try to seduce you, do not give way.

¹¹ If they say, ‘Come with us: there is blood to be had if we lie in wait for it, if we plan an ambush for the innocent;

¹² we can swallow them alive, like Sheol, alive and whole like those who go down to the Pit.

¹³ We shall find treasures of every sort, we shall fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us: one purse between us all.’

¹⁵ My son, do not follow them in their way, keep your steps out of their path

¹⁶ (for their feet hasten to evil, they are quick to shed blood);

¹⁷ the net is always spread in vain if the bird is watching.

¹⁸ It is for their own blood these men lie in wait, their own selves they lie in ambush for.

¹⁹ To this come all men who are after dishonest gain, which robs of their lives all those who take it for their own.

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the public squares;

²¹ she calls out at the street corners, she delivers her message at the city gates,

²² ‘You ignorant people, how much longer will you cling to your ignorance? How much longer will mockers revel in their mocking and fools hold knowledge contemptible?

²³ Pay attention to my warning: now I will pour out my heart to you, and tell you what I have to say.

²⁴ Since I have called and you have refused me, since I have beckoned and no one has taken notice,

²⁵ since you have ignored all my advice and rejected all my warnings,

²⁶ I, for my part, will laugh at your distress, I will jeer at you when calamity comes,

²⁷ when calamity bears down on you like a storm and your distress like a whirlwind, when disaster and anguish bear down on you.

²⁸ Then they shall call to me, but I will not answer, they shall seek me eagerly and shall not find me.

²⁹ They despised knowledge, they had no love for the fear of Yahweh,

³⁰ they would take no advice from me, and spurned all my warnings:

³¹ so they must eat the fruits of their own courses, and choke themselves with their own scheming.

³² For the errors of the ignorant lead to their death, and the complacency of fools works their own ruin;

³³ but whoever listens to me may live secure, he will have quiet, fearing no mischance.’