Proverbs1

Proverbs 1 New King James Version

 

The Beginning of Knowledge

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

² To know wisdom and instruction,
To ^[a]perceive the words of understanding,
³ To receive the instruction of wisdom,
Justice, judgment, and equity;
⁴ To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion—
⁵ A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will ^[b]attain wise counsel,
⁶ To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Shun Evil Counsel

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of your father,
And do not forsake the law of your mother;
⁹ For they will be a graceful ornament on your head,
And chains about your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent.
¹¹ If they say, “Come with us,
Let us lie in wait to shed blood;
Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
¹² Let us swallow them alive like ^[c]Sheol,
And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
¹³ We shall find all kinds of precious ^[d]possessions,
We shall fill our houses with ^[e]spoil;
¹⁴ Cast in your lot among us,
Let us all have one purse”—
¹⁵ My son, do not walk in the way with them,
Keep your foot from their path;
¹⁶ For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
¹⁷ Surely, in ^[f]vain the net is spread
In the sight of any ^[g]bird;
¹⁸ But they lie in wait for their own blood,
They lurk secretly for their own lives.
¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain;
It takes away the life of its owners.

The Call of Wisdom

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud ^[h]outside;
She raises her voice in the open squares.
²¹ She cries out in the ^[i]chief concourses,
At the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
²² “How long, you ^[j]simple ones, will you love ^[k]simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.
²³ Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
²⁵ Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
²⁷ When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸ “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
²⁹ Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
³⁰ They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
³¹ Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
³² For the ^[l]turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
³³ But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be ^[m]secure, without fear of evil.”