1:1  THE PROVERBS (truths obscurely expressed, maxims, and parables) of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

1:2  That people may know skillful {and} godly Wisdom and instruction, discern {and} comprehend the words of understanding {and} insight,

1:3  Receive instruction in wise dealing {and} the discipline of wise thoughtfulness, righteousness, justice, and integrity,

1:4  That prudence may be given to the simple, and knowledge, discretion, {and} discernment to the youth--

1:5  The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill {and} attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly]--

1:6  That people may understand a proverb and a figure of speech {or} an enigma with its interpretation, and the words of the wise and their dark sayings {or} riddles.

1:7  The reverent {and} worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning {and} the principal {and} choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful {and} godly Wisdom, instruction, {and} discipline.

1:8  My son, hear the instruction of your father; reject not {nor} forsake the teaching of your mother.

1:9  For they are a [victor's] chaplet (garland) of grace upon your head and chains {and} pendants [of gold worn by kings] for your neck.

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

1:11  If they say, Come with us; let us lie in wait [to shed] blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause [and show that his piety is in vain];

1:12  Let us swallow them up alive as does Sheol (the place of the dead), and whole, as those who go down into the pit [of the dead];

1:13  We shall find {and} take all kinds of precious goods [when our victims are put out of the way], we shall fill our houses with plunder;

1:14  Throw in your lot with us [they insist] {and} be a sworn brother {and} comrade; let us all have one purse in common--

1:15  My son, do not walk in the way with them; restrain your foot from their path;

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

1:17  For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird!

1:18  But [when these men set a trap for others] they are lying in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.

1:19  So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain; such [greed for plunder] takes away the lives of its possessors.

1:20  Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the markets;

1:21  She cries at the head of the noisy intersections [in the chief gathering places]; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

1:22  How long, O simple ones [open to evil], will you love being simple? And the scoffers delight in scoffing and [self-confident] fools hate knowledge?

1:23  If you will turn (repent) {and} give heed to my reproof, behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make my words known to you.

1:24  Because I have called and you have refused [to answer], have stretched out my hand and no man has heeded it,

1:25  And you treated as nothing all my counsel and would accept none of my reproof,

1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when the thing comes that shall cause you terror {and} panic--

1:27  When your panic comes as a storm {and} desolation and your calamity comes on as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

1:28  Then will they call upon me [Wisdom] but I will not answer; they will seek me early {and} diligently but they will not find me.

1:29  Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the reverent {and} worshipful fear of the Lord,

1:30  Would accept none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof,

1:31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices.

1:32  For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the careless ease of [self-confident] fools shall destroy them.

1:33  But whoso hearkens to me [Wisdom] shall dwell securely {and} in confident trust and shall be quiet, without fear {or} dread of evil.