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

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

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

1:4For 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.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1:21At 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2:1My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

2:2To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

2:3For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

2:4If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

2:5Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

2:6For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

2:7Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

2:8To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

2:9Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.

2:10For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

2:11Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

2:12To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

2:13Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

2:14Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

2:15Whose paths are crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

2:16To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

2:17Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

2:18For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

2:19None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

2:20That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

2:21For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

2:22And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!

3:1My son! my law forget not, And my commands let thy heart keep,

3:2For length of days and years, Life and peace they do add to thee.

3:3Let not kindness and truth forsake thee, Bind them on thy neck, Write them on the tablet of thy heart,

3:4And find grace and good understanding In the eyes of God and man.

3:5Trust unto Jehovah with all thy heart, And unto thine own understanding lean not.

3:6In all thy ways know thou Him, And He doth make straight thy paths.

3:7Be not wise in thine own eyes, Fear Jehovah, and turn aside from evil.

3:8Healing it is to thy navel, And moistening to thy bones.

3:9Honour Jehovah from thy substance, And from the beginning of all thine increase;

3:10And filled are thy barns with plenty, And with new wine thy presses break forth.

3:11Chastisement of Jehovah, my son, despise not, And be not vexed with His reproof,

3:12For whom Jehovah loveth He reproveth, Even as a father the son He is pleased with.

3:13O the happiness of a man who hath found wisdom, And of a man who bringeth forth understanding.

3:14For better is her merchandise Than the merchandise of silver, And than gold -- her increase.

3:15Precious she is above rubies, And all thy pleasures are not comparable to her.

3:16Length of days is in her right hand, In her left are wealth and honour.

3:17Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace.

3:18A tree of life she is to those laying hold on her, And whoso is retaining her is happy.

3:19Jehovah by wisdom did found the earth, He prepared the heavens by understanding.

3:20By His knowledge depths have been rent, And clouds do drop dew.

3:21My son! let them not turn from thine eyes, Keep thou wisdom and thoughtfulness,

3:22And they are life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

3:23Then thou goest thy way confidently, And thy foot doth not stumble.

3:24If thou liest down, thou art not afraid, Yea, thou hast lain down, And sweet hath been thy sleep.

3:25Be not afraid of sudden fear, And of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh.

3:26For Jehovah is at thy side, And He hath kept thy foot from capture.

3:27Withhold not good from its owners, When thy hand is toward God to do it.

3:28Say not thou to thy friend, `Go, and return, and to-morrow I give,' And substance with thee.

3:29Devise not against thy neighbour evil, And he sitting confidently with thee.

3:30Strive not with a man without cause, If he have not done thee evil.

3:31Be not envious of a man of violence, Nor fix thou on any of his ways.

3:32For an abomination to Jehovah is the perverted, And with the upright is His secret counsel.

3:33The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the wicked. And the habitation of the righteous He blesseth.

3:34If the scorners He doth scorn, Yet to the humble He doth give grace.

3:35Honour do the wise inherit, And fools are bearing away shame!