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