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The proverbs of Solomon the son of David,king of Israel;2
To knowwisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;3
To receive the instruction of wisdom , justice, and judgment, and equity;a4
To givesubtilty to the simple, to the young manknowledge and discretion.b5
A wise man will hear , and will increaselearning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:6
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation;c the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.7
The fear of the LORD is the beginningd of knowledge: but foolsdespisewisdom and instruction.8
My son,hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:9
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chainse about thy neck.10
My son, if sinnersentice thee, consent thou not.
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If they say , Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:12
Let us swallow them upalive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:13
We shall find all precioussubstance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:14Cast in thy lotamong us; let us all have onepurse:15
My son,walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:16
For their feetrun to evil, and make haste to shedblood.17
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird .
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And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.19
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20Wisdomfcriethwithout; she uttereth her voice in the streets:21
She crieth in the chief place of concourse , in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
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How long, ye simple ones, will ye lovesimplicity? and the scornersdelight in their scorning, and foolshateknowledge?23Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
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Because I have called , and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ;
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But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:26
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fearcometh ;
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When your fearcometh as desolation , and your destructioncometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguishcometh upon you.
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Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early , but they shall not find me:
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For that they hatedknowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:30
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.31
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.32
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
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But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwellsafely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.