JPS - Proverbs - 4

4:1  Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

4:2  For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not my teaching.

4:3  For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.

4:4  And he taught me, and said unto me: 'Let thy heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments, and live;

4:5  Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

4:6  Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; love her, and she will keep thee.

4:7  The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom; yea, with all thy getting get understanding.

4:8  Extol her, and she will exalt thee; she will bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

4:9  She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow on thee.'

4:10  Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

4:11  I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.

4:12  When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

4:13  Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.

4:14  Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.

4:15  Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.

4:16  For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

4:17  For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

4:18  But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

4:19  The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.

4:20  My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

4:21  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.

4:22  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

4:23  Above all that thou guardest keep thy heart; for out of it are the issues of life.

4:24  Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

4:25  Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

4:26  Make plain the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

4:27  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.