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

1:2  For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,

1:3  For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,

1:4  For giving to simple ones -- prudence, To a youth -- knowledge and discretion.

1:5  (The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)

1:6  For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.

1:7  Fear of Jehovah `is' a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!

1:8  Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,

1:9  For a graceful wreath `are' they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.

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

1:11  If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,

1:12  We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down `to' the pit,

1:13  Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses `with' spoil,

1:14  Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.'

1:15  My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,

1:16  For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.

1:17  Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.

1:18  And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.

1:19  So `are' the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.

1:20  Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,

1:21  At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:

1:22  `Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?

1:23  Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.

1:24  Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,

1:25  And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.

1:26  I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,

1:27  When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.

1:28  Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.

1:29  Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.

1:30  They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,

1:31  And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.

1:32  For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.

1:33  And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And `is' quiet from fear of evil!'