Proverbs 1:1
These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,
Proverbs 1:2
for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,
Proverbs 1:3
and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.
Proverbs 1:4
To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young,
Proverbs 1:5
let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
Proverbs 1:6
by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
Proverbs 1:9
For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.
Proverbs 1:10
My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.
Proverbs 1:11
If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
Proverbs 1:12
let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
Proverbs 1:13
We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.
Proverbs 1:14
Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”—
Proverbs 1:15
my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.
Proverbs 1:16
For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
Proverbs 1:17
How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!
Proverbs 1:18
But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.
Proverbs 1:19
Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
Proverbs 1:20
Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;
Proverbs 1:21
in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:
Proverbs 1:22
“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
Proverbs 1:23
If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.
Proverbs 1:24
Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
Proverbs 1:25
because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,
Proverbs 1:26
in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
Proverbs 1:27
when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.
Proverbs 1:28
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
Proverbs 1:29
For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.
Proverbs 1:30
They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.
Proverbs 1:31
So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Proverbs 1:32
For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
Proverbs 1:33
But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”