NETtext - Proverbs - 1

1:1  The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

1:2  To learn wisdom and moral instruction, and to discern wise counsel.

1:3  To receive moral instruction in skillful living, in righteousness, justice, and equity.

1:4  To impart shrewdness to the morally naive, and a discerning plan to the young person.

1:5  (Let the wise also hear and gain instruction, and let the discerning acquire guidance! )

1:6  To discern the meaning of a proverb and a parable, the sayings of the wise and their riddles.

1:7  Fearing the LORD is the beginning of moral knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

1:8  Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teaching from your mother.

1:9  For they will be like an elegant garland on your head, and like pendants around your neck.

1:10  My child, if sinners try to entice you, do not consent!

1:11  If they say, "Come with us! We will lie in wait to shed blood; we will ambush an innocent person capriciously.

1:12  We will swallow them alive like Sheol, those full of vigor like those going down to the Pit.

1:13  We will seize all kinds of precious wealth; we will fill our houses with plunder.

1:14  Join with us! We will all share equally in what we steal."

1:15  My child, do not go down their way, withhold yourself from their path;

1:16  for they are eager to inflict harm, and they hasten to shed blood.

1:17  Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird,

1:18  but these men lie in wait for their own blood, they ambush their own lives!

1:19  Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly; it takes away the life of those who obtain it!

1:20  Wisdom calls out in the street, she shouts loudly in the plazas;

1:21  at the head of the noisy streets she calls, in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words:

1:22  "How long will you simpletons love naiveté? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

1:23  If only you will respond to my rebuke, then I will pour out my thoughts to you and I will make my words known to you.

1:24  However, because I called but you refused to listen, because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention,

1:25  because you neglected all my advice, and did not comply with my rebuke,

1:26  so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you, I will mock when what you dread comes,

1:27  when what you dread comes like a whirlwind, and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm, when distressing trouble comes on you.

1:28  Then they will call to me, but I will not answer; they will diligently seek me, but they will not find me.

1:29  Because they hated moral knowledge, and did not choose to fear the Lord,

1:30  they did not comply with my advice, they spurned all my rebuke.

1:31  Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way, and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel.

1:32  For the waywardness of the simpletons will kill them, and the careless ease of fools will destroy them.

1:33  But the one who listens to me will live in security, and will be at ease from the dread of harm.