WeBible

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

2 - To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;

3 - To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

4 - To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:

5 - That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

6 - To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

7 - The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; Butthe foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

8 - My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

9 - For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

10 - My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

11 - If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

12 - Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit;

13 - We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil;

14 - Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse:

15 - My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

16 - For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

17 - For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

18 - And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.

19 - So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

20 - Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

21 - She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words:

22 - How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?

23 - Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you.

24 - Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

25 - But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:

26 - I also will laugh inthe day ofyour calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27 - When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you.

28 - Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:

29 - For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah,

30 - They would none of my counsel, They despised all my reproof.

31 - Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices.

32 - For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

33 - But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.