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

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^[2]  To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;

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^[3]  To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

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^[4]  To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:

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

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^[6]  To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

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^[7]  The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; Butthe foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

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^[8]  My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

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^[9]  For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

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^[10]  My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

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

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

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^[13]  We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil;

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^[14]  Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse:

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^[15]  My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

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^[16]  For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

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^[17]  For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

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^[18]  And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.

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

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^[20]  Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

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

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

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

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^[24]  Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

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^[25]  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:

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^[26]  I also will laugh inthe day ofyour calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

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

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

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^[29]  For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah,

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^[30]  They would none of my counsel, They despised all my reproof.

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^[31]  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices.

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^[32]  For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

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^[33]  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.

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