Proverbs 1

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction;

To receive instruction in wise dealing,

To give prudence to the simple,

That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning;

To understand a proverb, and a figure,

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge;

My son, hear the instruction of thy father,

For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,

My son, if sinners entice thee,

If they say, Come with us,

Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol,

We shall find all precious substance;

Thou shalt cast thy lot among us;

My son, walk not thou in the way with them;

For their feet run to evil,

For in vain is the net spread

And these lay wait for their own blood;

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;

Wisdom crieth aloud in the street;

She crieth in the chief place of concourse;

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

Turn you at my reproof:

Because I have called, and ye have refused;

But ye have set at nought all my counsel,

I also will laugh in the day of your calamity;

When your fear cometh as a storm,

Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer;

For that they hated knowledge,

They would none of my counsel,

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them,

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,