^{1 Ref} The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

^{2 Ref} To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;

^{3 Ref} To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

^{4 Ref} To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:

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

^{6 Ref} To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

^{7 Ref} The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; `But' the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

^{8 Ref} My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

^{9 Ref} For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

^{10 Ref} My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

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

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

^{13 Ref} 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 Ref} My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

^{16 Ref} For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

^{17 Ref} For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

^{18 Ref} And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.

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

^{20 Ref} Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

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

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

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

^{24 Ref} Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

^{25 Ref} But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:

^{26 Ref} I also will laugh in `the day of' your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

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

^{28 Ref} Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:

^{29 Ref} For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:

^{30 Ref} They would none of my counsel; They despised all my reproof.

^{31 Ref} Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices.

^{32 Ref} For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

^{33 Ref} But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.