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

2 To know wisdom and instruction, to understand sayings of understanding,

3 to gain {insightful instruction}, righteousness and justice and equity,

4 to give shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and purpose to the young,

5 may the wise hear and increase learning, and the one who understands gain direction,

6 to understand a proverb and an expression, words of wisdom and their riddles.

7 Fear of Yahweh [is the] beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction, fools despise.

8 My child, may you keep your father's instruction, and do not reject your mother's teachings,

9 for they [are] a garland of favor for your head, and pendants for your neck.

10 My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

11 If they say, "Come with us! We shall lie in wait for blood; we shall ambush the innocent without cause.

12 Like Sheol, we will swallow them alive and whole, {like those who descend to the pit}.

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

14 you shall throw your lot in our midst, there will be one purse for all of us."

15 My child, do not walk in their way. Keep your foot from their paths,

16 for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood,

17 for "in vain is the net scattered, in the sight of any {winged bird}."

18 They lie in wait for their [own] blood. They ambush their [own] lives.

19 Thus are the ways of all who are greedy [for] gain-- it will take the life of its possessors.

20 Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the squares she raises her voice.

21 On a {busy corner} she cries out, at the entrances of the gates in the city, she speaks her sayings:

22 "{How long}, O simple ones, will you love simplicity? And [how long] will scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?

23 May you turn to my argument! Behold, I shall pour out my spirit upon you; I will make my words known to you.

24 Because I called out and you refused me, I stretched out my hand, yet there is none who heeds.

25 You have ignored all my counsel, and my reproof you are not willing [to accept].

26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic comes [upon] you.

27 When your panic comes like a storm, and your calamity arrives like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you,

28 then they will call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but not find me.

29 Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,

30 they were not willing [to accept] my counsel, they despised all my reproof.

31 They shall eat from the fruit of their way, and they shall be sated from their own schemes,

32 for the waywardness of the simple ones will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

33 Whoever listens to me will dwell in security and rest securely from dread and disaster."

1 My child, if you will receive my sayings, and hide my commands with you,

2 [in order] to incline your ear toward wisdom, [then] you shall apply your heart to understanding.

3 For if you cry out for understanding, [if] you lift your voice for insight,

4 if you seek her like silver and search her out {like treasure},

5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and the knowledge of God you will find.

6 For Yahweh will give wisdom; from his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.

7 For the upright, he stores sound judgment, a shield for those who walk uprightly,

8 [in order] to guard paths of justice and keep the way of his faithful [ones].

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and uprightness--every good course--

10 for wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul.

11 Discretion will watch over you; understanding will protect you,

12 [in order] to deliver you from the way of evil, from a man who speaks devious things--

13 those who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in ways of darkness,

14 those who are happy to do evil, [for] they delight in [the] deviousness of evil,

15 {who are crooked in their ways}, and devious in their paths;

16 [in order] to deliver you from a strange woman, from a foreign woman [who] flatters [with] her sayings,

17 she who forsakes the partner of her youth and has forgotten the covenant of her God,

18 for her house sinks to death, and to the dead are her paths.

19 [Of] all who go to her, none shall return, nor do they reach paths of life.

20 So that you will walk on the road of those who are good, and the paths of those who are righteous you shall keep.

21 For those who are upright will dwell [in the] land, and those who are blameless will remain in it.

22 And those who are wicked will be cut off from the land, and those who are treacherous will be uprooted from it.

1 My child, do not forget my instruction, and may your heart guard my commands.

2 For length of days, years of life, and peace they shall add to you.

3 May loyal love and truth not forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them upon your heart.

4 And you shall find favor and good sense in the eyes of God and humankind.

5 {Trust Yahweh} with all your heart; do not lean toward your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will straighten your paths.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear Yahweh and retreat from evil.

8 There shall be healing for your {flesh}, and refreshment for your body.

9 Honor Yahweh from your substance, and from the firstfruits of all that will come to you,

10 and your barns shall be full of plenty, and your vats shall burst [with] new wine.

11 Do not despise the discipline of Yahweh, my child. Do not be weary of his reproof

12 because whomever Yahweh will love, he will rebuke, as a father delights in his son.

13 Happy [is] {the one} who finds wisdom, and one who obtains understanding.

14 For her income is better than the income of silver, and her revenue than [that of] gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies, and all your desires shall not compare with her.

16 Length of days [is] in her right hand; in her left hand [are] riches and honor.

17 Her ways [are] ways of pleasantness, and all her paths [are] peace.

18 She is a tree of life for those who seize her; those who take hold of her are considered happy.

19 Yahweh in wisdom founded the earth; he established the heavens in understanding.

20 With his knowledge, depths broke open, and clouds dropped dew.

21 My child, may they not escape from your {sight}; may you keep sound wisdom and prudence.

22 They shall be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

23 Then you will walk in the confidence of your ways, and your foot will not stumble.

24 If you sit down, you will not panic, and [if] you lie down, then your sleep shall be sweet.

25 Do not be afraid of sudden panic, or the storm of wickedness that will come.

26 Yahweh will be {your confidence} and guard your foot from capture.

27 Do not withhold good from its owner when it is in the power of your hand to do.

28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go and return and tomorrow I will give [it]," {when it is with you}.

29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor [who] dwells in confidence beside you.

30 Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, when he did not do you harm.

31 Do not envy a man of violence, and do not choose any of his ways,

32 for he who is perverse [is] an abomination of Yahweh, but those who are upright [are] his confidence.

33 The curse of Yahweh [is] on the house of the wicked, and the abode of the righteous ones he blesses.

34 With those who scorn, he is scornful, but to those who are humble, he gives favor.

35 They will inherit the honor of the wise, but stubborn fools, disgrace.

1 Children, listen [to the] instruction of a father, and be attentive [in order] to know insight.

2 For I have given you good instruction; do not forsake my teaching.

3 When I was a son to my father, tender and alone before my mother,

4 he taught me and said to me, "May your heart hold fast [to] my words; guard my commandments and live.

5 Get wisdom and insight; do not forget and do not turn from the sayings of my mouth.

6 Do not forsake her--then she will guard you; love her and she will keep you.

7 The beginning of wisdom: Get wisdom! With all [that is in] your possession, gain insight.

8 Cherish her and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

9 She will give a garland for your head; she shall bestow a crown of glory upon you."

10 Listen, my child, take my sayings, and [the] years of your life shall be great.

11 In the way of wisdom I have instructed you; I have led you in the path of uprightness.

12 {When you walk}, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.

13 Seize the instruction! Do not let go! Guard her, for she is your life.

14 In the path of the wicked do not go; do not walk in the way of those who do evil.

15 Avoid it; do not transgress it; turn away from it and pass by.

16 For they will not sleep if they have not done wrong, and they are robbed of their sleep if they do not cause stumbling.

17 For they ate the bread of wickedness, and they drank the wine of violence.

18 But the path of the righteous ones [is] like the light of dawn, leading and shining until the day {is full}.

19 The way of the wicked ones [is] like deep darkness; they do not know what they stumble over.

20 My child, be attentive to my words; to my sayings incline your ear.

21 May they not escape from your {sight}; keep them in [the] midst of your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them and healing {to the entire body}.

23 With all vigilance, keep your heart, for from it [comes] the source of life.

24 Remove from yourself {deceitful speech}, and abolish {devious talk} from yourself.

25 May your eyes look forward and your gaze be straight before you.

26 May the path of your foot be balanced and all your ways be sure.

27 Do not swerve right or left; remove your foot from evil.

1 My child, be attentive to my wisdom, and to my understanding incline your ear;

2 [in order] to keep prudence, and knowledge will guard your lips.

3 For the lips of the strange woman will drip honey, and smoother than oil is her mouth.

4 But her end is bitter as the wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down [to] death; her steps take hold [of] Sheol.

6 She does not observe the path of life; her ways wander, [and] she does not know [it].

7 Now, O children, listen to me; do not depart from the sayings of my mouth.

8 Keep your paths far from her, and do not go near to the door of her house,

9 lest you give your honor to the others, and your years to the merciless,

10 lest strangers take [their] fill of your strength, and your labors [go] to the house of a foreigner,

11 and you groan at your end, when your flesh and body are consumed,

12 and say "How I hated discipline, and I despised reproof!"

13 and "I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, and I did not incline my ear to my instructors!

14 I was almost at utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation."

15 Drink water from your [own] cistern and flowing waters from inside your own well.

16 Shall your springs be scattered outward? In the streets, [shall there be] streams of water?

17 May they be yours alone, and not for strangers [who are] with you.

18 May your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 [She is] a deer of love and a doe of grace; may her breasts satisfy you {always}; by her love may you be intoxicated continually.

20 Why should you be intoxicated, my child, by a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

21 For before the eyes of Yahweh [are] {human ways}, and all his paths he examines.

22 His iniquities shall ensnare him, the evildoer, and in the vanity of his sin he shall be caught.

23 He shall die {for lack of} discipline, and in the greatness of his folly he shall be lost.

1 My child, if you have pledged to your neighbor, [if] you have bound {yourself} to the stranger,

2 [if] you are snared by the sayings of your mouth, [if] you are caught by the sayings of your mouth,

3 do this, then, my child, and save yourself, for you have come into {the palm of your neighbor's hand}: Go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbor.

4 Do not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids.

5 Save yourself like a gazelle from a hand, or like a bird from the hand of a fowler.

6 Go to the ant, lazy! Consider its ways and be wise.

7 It has no chief, officer, or ruler.

8 In the summer, it prepares its food; in the harvest, it gathers its sustenance.

9 How long will you lie down, lazy? When will you rise up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands for rest--

11 like a {robber} shall your poverty come, and what you lack like an armed man.

12 A worthless man, an evil man, goes around with {deceitful speech}.

13 Winking in his eye, shuffling in his foot, pointing in his fingers,

14 perversion in his heart, he devises evil; at all times he will send out discord.

15 Upon {such a man}, suddenly shall his calamity come; in a moment he will be damaged and there is no healing.

16 There are six [things] Yahweh hates, and seven [things are] abominations of his soul:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a devising heart, plans of deception, feet that hurry to run to evil,

19 a false witness who breathes lies and sends out discord between brothers.

20 My child, keep [the] commandment of your father, and do not disregard [the] instruction of your mother.

21 Bind them on your heart continually; tie them upon your neck.

22 {When you walk}, she will lead you, {When you lie down}, she will watch over you, and [when] you awake, she will converse [with] you.

23 For [like] a lamp [is] a commandment, and instruction [is] light, and the way of life [is the] reproof of discipline,

24 [in order] to preserve you from an evil woman, from the smoothness of [the] tongue of {an adulteress}.

25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart; may she not capture you with her eyelashes.

26 For [the] price of a woman, a prostitute, [is the] price of a loaf of bread, but the {woman belonging to a man} hunts precious life.

27 Can a man carry fire in his lap, and his clothes not burn?

28 If a man walks upon the hot coals, will his feet not be burned?

29 Thus, he who goes to the wife of his neighbor, any who touches her shall not go unpunished.

30 [People] do not despise a thief when he steals to fill himself when he is hungry.

31 But [if] he is found, he will pay sevenfold, every possession of his house he shall give.

32 He who commits adultery [with] a woman lacks {sense}, he destroys himself who does it.

33 A wound and dishonor he will find, and his disgrace will not be wiped out.

34 For jealousy [is the] fury of a husband, and he will not show restraint on the day of revenge.

35 He will not accept {any compensation}, and he will not be willing, though the bribe is large.

1 My child, guard my sayings; store my commandments with you.

2 Keep my commands and live, and my teaching like [the] {apple of your eye}.

3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, "you are my sister," and you shall call insight, "{intimate friend}."

5 [In order] to guard yourself from {an adulteress}, from the foreigner who {makes her words smooth}.

6 For at the window of my house, through my lattice, I looked down.

7 And I saw among the simple, I observed among the youth, a young man lacking {sense},

8 passing on the street {at} her corner, and he takes the road [to] her house,

9 at twilight, at [the] day's evening, in [the] midst of night and the darkness.

10 Then behold! A woman [comes] to meet him [with the] garment of a prostitute and {a secret heart}.

11 She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay at her house.

12 Now in the street, now in the square, {at} every corner she lies in wait.

13 She took hold of him and kissed him. Her face was impudent, and she said to him,

14 "Sacrifices of peace offerings [are] upon me; {today} I completed my vows.

15 So I have come out to meet you, to seek your face, and I have found you.

16 [With] coverings I have adorned my couch, spreads of the linen of Egypt;

17 I have perfumed my bed [with] myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take [our] fill of love making, until the morning let us delight in love.

19 For there is no man in his home; he has gone on a {long journey}.

20 The bag of money he took in his hand, for [on] the day of the full moon he will come home."

21 She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings; with her smooth lips she compels him.

22 He goes after her suddenly; like an ox to the slaughter he goes, and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,

23 until an arrow pierces his {entrails}, like a bird rushing into a snare, but he does not know that {it will cost him his life}.

24 And now, my children, listen to me, and be attentive to the sayings of my mouth.

25 May your heart not turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her path.

26 For many slain she has laid low, and countless [are] all of her killings.

27 The ways of Sheol [are] her house, descending to chambers of death.

1 Does not wisdom call, and understanding raise its voice?

2 {Atop the heights} beside the road, at the crossroads she stands.

3 Beside gates, before towns, [at the] entrance of doors, she cries out:

4 "To you, O {people}, I call, and my cry is to the children of humankind.

5 Learn prudence, O simple ones; fools, learn {intelligence}.

6 Listen! For noble things I will speak, and upright things from the opening of my lips.

7 My mouth will utter truth, and wickedness [is] an abomination to my lips.

8 All sayings of my mouth [are] in righteousness; none of them are twisted and crooked.

9 All of them are straight to him who understands, and upright to those who find knowledge.

10 Take my teaching and not silver; may you choose knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 For wisdom is better than jewels, and all desires shall not compare with her.

12 I, wisdom, live with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

13 The fear of Yahweh [is] hatred of evil, pride, and arrogance and an evil way. And I hate a mouth of perversity.

14 {Advice and sound judgment} are mine; I am understanding, {strength is mine}.

15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree righteousness.

16 By me rulers rule, and nobles--all judges of righteousness.

17 I love {those who love me}, and those who seek me diligently shall find me.

18 Fortune and glory [are] with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, even refined gold, and my yield than choice silver.

20 In the way of righteousness I walk, in the midst of paths of justice,

21 [in order] to endow those who love me [with] wealth, and I will fill their treasuries.

22 "Yahweh possessed me, [the] first of his ways, before his acts {of old}.

23 From eternity, I was set up from [the] first, from the beginning of the earth.

24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs of {abounding} water.

25 Before mountains had been shaped, before hills, I was brought forth.

26 When he had not yet made earth and fields, or the first dust of the world,

27 {when he established} the heavens, there I [was], {when he drew} a circle upon the face of the deep,

28 {when he made} skies from above, when he founded fountains of the deep,

29 {when he assigned} his limits to the sea, that waters shall not transgress his {command}, {when he marked} the foundations of the earth,

30 I was {beside} him, a master workman, and I was delighting day by day, rejoicing before him {always},

31 rejoicing in the world of his earth, and my delight [was] with the children of humankind.

32 "And now, children, listen to me; happy [are] those who will keep my ways.

33 Hear teaching and be wise; do not neglect [it].

34 Happy [is the] person who listens to me, [in order] to keep watch at my doors day by day, [in order] to guard the frames of my entrances.

35 For he who finds me [is] he who finds life, and he obtains favor from Yahweh.

36 But he who misses me injures himself. All those who hate me love death."

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.

2 She has slaughtered her slaughtering, mixed her wine, [and] also set her table.

3 She has sent her servant girls, she calls upon the wings of the high places of town,

4 "Whoever [is] simple, let him turn here." As for the one who lacks {sense}, she says to him,

5 "Come, eat with my bread; drink with the wine I have mixed.

6 Lay aside simplicity and live; walk in the way of understanding."

7 He who corrects a scoffer gains abuse for himself, and he who rebukes the wicked {gets hurt}.

8 Do not rebuke a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke the wise and he will love you.

9 Give to a wise one and he will become more wise; {teach} a righteous one and he will increase learning.

10 The start of wisdom is fear of Yahweh, and knowledge of the Holy One, insight.

11 For by me your days shall increase, and years of life shall multiply for you.

12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and [if] you scoff, alone you shall bear [it].

13 A woman of foolishness is loud, simple, and does not know {it}.

14 She sits at the door of her house, upon a throne [at the] high places of town,

15 [in order] to call to those who pass by the road, those who go straight [on] their way:

16 "Whoever is simple, may he turn here!" As for he who lacks {sense}, she says to him,

17 "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread of secrecy is pleasant."

18 But he does not know that the dead [are] there, in the depths of Sheol [are] her guests.

Proverbs 1; Proverbs 2; Proverbs 3; Proverbs 4; Proverbs 5; Proverbs 6; Proverbs 7; Proverbs 8; Proverbs 9

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Proverbs 7

Proverbs 8

Proverbs 9