1The proverbs of Solomon
the son of David,
king of Israel;
2To know
wisdom and instruction;
to perceive
the words
of understanding;
3To receive
the instruction of wisdom,
justice, and judgment,
and equity;
4To give subtilty
to the simple,
to the young man
knowledge and discretion.
5A wise man
will hear,
and will increase learning;
and a man
of understanding
shall attain
unto wise counsels:
and the interpretation;
the words of the wise,
and their dark sayings.
7The fear
of the LORD
is the beginning
of knowledge:
but fools
despise
wisdom and instruction.
8My son,
hear the instruction
of thy father,
and forsake not
the law of thy mother:
9For they shall
be an ornament
of grace
unto thy head,
and
chains about thy neck.
10My son,
if sinners entice thee,
consent thou not.
11If they say,
Come with us,
let us lay wait
for blood,
let us lurk privily
for the innocent
without cause:
12Let us swallow them
up alive
as the grave;
and whole,
as
those that go down
into the pit:
13We shall find
all precious substance,
we shall
fill our houses
with spoil:
14Cast in thy lot
among us;
let us all
have one purse:
15My son,
walk not thou
in the way with them;
refrain thy
foot
from their path:
16For their feet
run to evil,
and make haste
to shed blood.
17Surely
in vain
the net is spread
in the sight
of any bird.
18And they lay wait
for their own blood;
they lurk privily
for their
own lives.
19So are the ways
of every one
that is greedy
of gain;
which
taketh
away the life
of the owners thereof.
20Wisdom crieth without;
she uttereth her voice
in the streets:
21She crieth
in the chief place
of concourse,
in the openings
of the gates:
in the city
she uttereth
her words,
saying,
22How long,
ye simple ones,
will ye love simplicity?
and the
scorners
delight
in their scorning,
and fools hate
knowledge?
23Turn you
at my reproof:
behold,
I will pour out
my spirit
unto you,
I will make
known my words
unto you.
24Because
I have called,
and ye refused;
I have stretched
out
my hand,
and no man regarded;
25But ye have set
at nought
all my counsel,
and would none
of
my reproof:
26I
also will laugh
at your calamity;
I will mock
when your
fear
cometh;
27When
your fear
cometh
as desolation,
and your destruction
cometh
as a whirlwind;
when distress
and anguish
cometh
upon you.
28Then
shall they call
upon me,
but I will
not answer;
they shall
seek me early,
but they shall
not find me:
29For
that they
hated knowledge,
and did not
choose the fear
of
the LORD:
30They would none
of my counsel:
they despised all
my reproof.
31Therefore
shall they eat
of the fruit
of their own way,
and be
filled
with
their own devices.
32For
the turning away
of the simple
shall slay them,
and the prosperity
of fools
shall destroy them.
33But whoso hearkeneth
unto me
shall dwell
safely
and shall be
quiet from
fear of evil.
