1:1  Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

1:2  to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;

1:3  to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity;

1:4  to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

1:5  He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels:

1:6  to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas.

1:7  The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction.

1:8  Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;

1:9  for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

1:10  My son, if sinners entice thee, consent not.

1:11  If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

1:12  let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those that go down into the pit;

1:13  we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

1:14  cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse:

1:15  -- my son, walk not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path;

1:16  for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

1:17  For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings.

1:18  And these lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.

1:19  So are the paths of every one that is greedy of gain: it taketh away the life of its possessors.

1:20  Wisdom crieth without; she raiseth her voice in the broadways;

1:21  she calleth in the chief [place] of concourse, in the entry of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words:

1:22  How long, simple ones, will ye love simpleness, and scorners take pleasure in their scorning, and the foolish hate knowledge?

1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour forth my spirit unto you, I will make known to you my words.

1:24  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded;

1:25  and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

1:26  I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh;

1:27  when your fear cometh as sudden destruction, and your calamity cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you:

1:28  -- then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me early, and shall not find me.

1:29  Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah;

1:30  they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof:

1:31  therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices.

1:32  For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish.

1:33  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil.