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

2To know wisdom and instruction; to comprehend the sayings of understanding;

3To accept the instruction of intelligence, righteousness, and justice, and equity;

4To give to the simple prudence, to the youth knowledge and discretion.

5The wise will hear, and will increase [his] information; and the man of understanding will obtain wise counsels:

6To understand a proverb, and a sage sentence; the words of the wise, and their riddles.

7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: wisdom and instruction fools [alone] despise.

8Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and cast not off the teaching of thy mother;

9For a wreath of grace are they unto thy head, and chains for thy throat.

10My son, if sinners wish to entice thee, consent thou not.

11If they should say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us watch in concealment for the uselessly innocent;

12We will swallow them up like the grave alive; and the men of integrity, as those that go down into the pit;

13We shall find all [kinds of] precious wealth, we will fill our houses with booty;

14Thy lot must thou cast in our midst; one purse shall be for us all:

15My son, walk not thou on the way with them; withhold thy foot from their path;

16For their feet run after evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

17For uselessly is the net spread out before the eyes of every winged bird:

18While they lie in wait for their [own] blood; they watch in concealment for their [own] lives.

19So are the paths of every one that is greedy after [unlawful] gain; it taketh away the life of those that own it.

20Wisdom crieth loudly without; in the public places she uttereth her voice;

21At the corner of noisy streets she calleth, at the entrances of gates; in the city she sayeth her speeches:

22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners take their delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

23Turn back to my admonition: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24Whereas I called, and ye refused; I stretched out my hand, and no man was attentive;

25And ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would not accept my admonition:

26[Therefore] I also will truly laugh at your calamity; I will deride [you] when your terror cometh;

27When your terror cometh like the tempest-cloud, and your calamity hasteneth like a whirlwind; when there come upon you distress and affliction.

28Then will they call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me earnestly, but they shall not find me;

29For the reason that they hated knowledge, and the fear of the Lord they did not choose;

30[That] they would not attend to my counsel: [that] they rejected all my admonition.

31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and from their own counsels shall they be satisfied.

32For the defection of the simple will slay them, and the prosperity of fools will cause them to be lost.

33But he that hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from the dread of evil.