The Beginning of Knowledge (PRO 1:1-7)

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

[1:2] To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,

[1:3] to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;

[1:4] to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—

[1:5] Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,

[1:6] to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.

[1:7] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sinners (PRO 1:8-19)

[1:8] Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

[1:9] for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants 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 for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason;

[1:12] like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

[1:13] we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder;

[1:14] throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”—

[1:15] my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths,

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

[1:17] For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird,

[1:18] but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.

[1:19] Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

The Call of Wisdom (PRO 1:20-33)

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

[1:21] at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

[1:22] “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

[1:23] If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

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

[1:25] because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

[1:26] I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you,

[1:27] when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

[1:28] Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

[1:29] Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

[1:30] would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof,

[1:31] therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

[1:32] For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

[1:33] but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

The Value of Wisdom (PRO 2:1-22)

[2:1] My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,

[2:2] making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

[2:3] yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,

[2:4] if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,

[2:5] then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

[2:6] For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

[2:7] he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

[2:8] guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

[2:9] Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

[2:10] for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

[2:11] discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,

[2:12] delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,

[2:13] who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

[2:14] who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,

[2:15] men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

[2:16] So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

[2:17] who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

[2:18] for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;

[2:19] none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.

[2:20] So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.

[2:21] For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it,

[2:22] but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart (PRO 3:1-12)

[3:1] My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

[3:2] for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

[3:3] Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

[3:4] So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

[3:5] Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

[3:6] In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

[3:7] Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

[3:8] It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

[3:9] Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;

[3:10] then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

[3:11] My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof,

[3:12] for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Blessed Is the One Who Finds Wisdom (PRO 3:13-35)

[3:13] Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,

[3:14] for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.

[3:15] She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

[3:16] Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

[3:17] Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

[3:18] She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.

[3:19] The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens;

[3:20] by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.

[3:21] My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion,

[3:22] and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

[3:23] Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.

[3:24] If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

[3:25] Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,

[3:26] for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

[3:27] Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

[3:28] Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

[3:29] Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you.

[3:30] Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.

[3:31] Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways,

[3:32] for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.

[3:33] The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

[3:34] Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

[3:35] The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.

A Father’s Wise Instruction (PRO 4:1-27)

[4:1] Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

[4:2] for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.

[4:3] When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

[4:4] he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

[4:5] Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

[4:6] Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

[4:7] The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.

[4:8] Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

[4:9] She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

[4:10] Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.

[4:11] I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

[4:12] When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.

[4:13] Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

[4:14] Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.

[4:15] Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

[4:16] For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

[4:17] For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

[4:18] But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

[4:19] The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

[4:20] My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

[4:21] Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.

[4:22] For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.

[4:23] Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

[4:24] Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.

[4:25] Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

[4:26] Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

[4:27] Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

Warning Against Adultery (PRO 5:1-23)

[5:1] My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

[5:2] that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.

[5:3] For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,

[5:4] but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

[5:5] Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;

[5:6] she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

[5:7] And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

[5:8] Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,

[5:9] lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,

[5:10] lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

[5:11] and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

[5:12] and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

[5:13] I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

[5:14] I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”

[5:15] Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.

[5:16] Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?

[5:17] Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.

[5:18] Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

[5:19] a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

[5:20] Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

[5:21] For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.

[5:22] The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.

[5:23] He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.

Practical Warnings (PRO 6:1-19)

[6:1] My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,

[6:2] if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,

[6:3] then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

[6:4] Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;

[6:5] save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

[6:6] Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

[6:7] Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,

[6:8] she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

[6:9] How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

[6:10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

[6:11] and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

[6:12] A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,

[6:13] winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,

[6:14] with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;

[6:15] therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

[6:16] There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:

[6:17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

[6:18] a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,

[6:19] a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery (PRO 6:20-35)

[6:20] My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.

[6:21] Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.

[6:22] When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.

[6:23] For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

[6:24] to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

[6:25] Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;

[6:26] for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.

[6:27] Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?

[6:28] Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?

[6:29] So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.

[6:30] People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

[6:31] but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.

[6:32] He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.

[6:33] He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

[6:34] For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.

[6:35] He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.