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

Proverbs 1

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

2 to know wisdom and chastening; to understand prudent words;

3 to receive the chastening of prudence, justice, judgment, and equity;

4 to give prudence to the simple, and to the young men knowledge and council.

5 If the wise will hear them, doctrine shall increase, and the man of understanding shall acquire wise counsel:

6 To understand a parable and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their enigmas.

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and chastening.

8 My son, hearken unto the chastening of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

9 For they shall be an increase of grace unto thy head and protection about thy neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice thee, do not consent.

11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without cause.

12 Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol and whole as those that go down into the pit;

13 We shall find all kinds of riches, we shall fill our houses with spoil.

14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

15 My son, do not walk in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

16 For their feet shall run to evil and make haste to shed blood.

17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

18 And they lay in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own souls.

19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain which takes away the life of those who possess it.

20 Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets:

21 She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the entrance to the gates of the city she utters her words, saying,

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

23 Return at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24 Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one responded;

25 for because ye have disregarded all my counsel and rejected my reproof:

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes upon you;

27 when what you have feared comes as destruction, and your calamity comes as a whirlwind; when tribulation and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

30 They rejected my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own counsel.

32 For the rest of the ignorant shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

33 But whosoever hearkens unto me shall dwell safely and shall rest from the fear of evil.

Proverbs 2

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments within thee

2 so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to intelligence,

3 yea, if thou criest for understanding and givest thy voice unto intelligence,

4 if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures,

5 then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth comes knowledge and intelligence.

7 He keeps the person of the upright; he is a buckler to those that walk perfectly,

8 keeping the paths of judgment and the way of his merciful ones.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, every good path.

10 When wisdom enters into thine heart and knowledge is sweet unto thy soul,

11 discretion shall preserve thee, intelligence shall keep thee

12 to deliver thee from the evil way, from the man that speaks perversion,

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

14 who rejoice to do evil and delight in wicked perversion,

15 whose ways are crooked, and they are crooked in their paths;

16 to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words,

17 who forsakes the prince of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.

18 Therefore her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither do they take hold of the paths of life.

20 That thou may walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 3

1 My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments:

2 For they shall add length of days and long life and peace unto thee.

3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thine heart:

4 So shalt thou find grace and good favour in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil.

8 It shall be medicine to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.

9 Honour the LORD with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

12 For the LORD chastens whom he loves and delights in, even as a father to his son.

13 Blessed is the man that has found wisdom and who brings to light intelligence,

14 for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the fruits thereof more than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than precious stones, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

16 Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour.

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

18 She is a tree of life to those that lay hold upon her, and blessed is every one that retains her.

19 The LORD by wisdom has founded the earth; by intelligence has he established the heavens.

20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the heavens drop down the dew.

21 My son, do not let them depart from thine eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion,

22 so shall they be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck.

23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

25 Thou shall not be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it comes.

26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

28 Do not say unto thy neighbour, Go and come again and tomorrow I will give when thou hast it by thee.

29 Do not devise evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwells securely by thee.

30 Do not sue a man without cause, if he has done thee no harm.

31 Envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways.

32 For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD; but his secret is with the righteous.

33 The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked, but he shall bless the habitation of the just.

34 Surely he scorns the scorners; but he gives grace unto the humble.

35 The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

Proverbs 4

1 Hearken, ye sons, unto the chastening of the father, and pay attention that ye might know understanding.

2 For I give you good doctrine; do not forsake my law.

3 For I was my father’s son, tender and unique in the sight of my mother.

4 He taught me and said unto me, Sustain thine heart with my words; keep my commandments, and live.

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

6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee.

7 Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

8 Grow in wisdom, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou hast embraced her.

9 She shall give to thine head an increase of grace; a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

10 Hear, O my son, and receive my words, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied.

11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have caused thee to walk in right paths.

12 When thou goest in these paths, thy steps shall not be hindered; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

13 Take fast hold of chastening; do not let go; keep this; for it is thy life.

14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

16 For they do not sleep, unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause someone to fall.

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

18 But the path of the just is as the light of the morning star, that shines more and more until the day is perfect.

19 The way of the wicked is as darkness; they do not know in what they stumble.

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

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

22 For they are life unto those that find them and medicine to all their flesh.

23 Above all else, guard thy heart; for out of it flows the issues of life.

24 Put away from thee the perversion of the mouth, and the deviation of the lips put far from thee.

25 Let thine eyes look upon that which is right, and let thine eyelids straighten thy path before thee.

26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

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

Proverbs 5

1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my intelligence;

2 that thou may keep council and that thy lips may conserve knowledge.

3 For the lips of the strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil,

4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death, her steps uphold Sheol,

6 lest thou should ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable; thou shalt not know them.

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye sons, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house,

9 lest thou give thine honour unto others and thy years unto the cruel,

10 lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours be in the house of a stranger,

11 and thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed

12 and say, How have I hated chastening and my heart despised reproof

13 and have not obeyed the voice of those who chastened me, nor inclined my ear to those that instructed me!

14 I have been in almost every kind of evil, in the midst of society and of the congregation.

15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well.

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of thy waters in the streets.

17 Let them be only thine own and not for strangers with thee.

18 Thy fountain shall be blessed; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love, without eyes for anyone else.

20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a woman belonging to someone else, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he weighs all his goings.

22 His own iniquities shall take hold of the wicked, and he shall be imprisoned with the cords of his sins.

23 He shall die because he did not submit to chastening; and due to the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Proverbs 6

1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,

2 thou art snared with the words of thy mouth; thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

5 Escape as a roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise,

7 Who having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

8 provides her food in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.

9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travels and thy want as an armed man.

12 A wicked man of Belial walks with a perverse mouth.

13 He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers;

14 there is perversion in his heart; he devises evil continually; he sows discord.

15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

16 These six things does the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to evil,

19 a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.

20 My son, keep thy father’s commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother:

21 Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck.

22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

23 For the commandment is fire, and the law is light; and reproofs of chastening are the way of life,

24 to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyes.

26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is reduced to a piece of bread, and the woman will hunt the precious soul of the man.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

29 So is he that goes in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever touches her shall not be innocent.

30 Men do not take a thief lightly, even if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

31 and once he is taken, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

32 But whosoever commits adultery with a woman has a fault in his heart; he that does it corrupts his own soul.

33 A wound and dishonour shall he get, and his reproach shall never be wiped away.

34 For the jealous rage of a man will not spare in the day of vengeance.

35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he want to forgive, though thou givest many bribes.

Proverbs 7

1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

3 Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart.

4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman:

5 That they may keep thee from the woman belonging to someone else, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement

7 and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

9 in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night;

10 and, behold, a woman met him with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart.

11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not abide in her house:

12 Now without, now in the streets, she lies in wait at every corner.)

13 So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him,

14 I had promised sacrifices of peace; today I have payed my vows.

15 Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.

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

18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves.

19 For the husband is not at home; he is gone a long journey:

20 He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the appointed feast day.

21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she persuaded him.

22 He went after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,

23 until the arrow pierces through his liver. He is as a bird struggling in the snare and not knowing that it is against his own life.

24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye sons, and attend to the words of my mouth.

25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways; do not go astray in her paths.

26 For she has caused many to fall down dead; yea, all the strong men have been slain by her.

27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 8

1 Doth not wisdom cry, and give her voice to intelligence?

2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way at the crossroads of the paths.

3 She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.

5 O ye simple, understand prudence; and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

6 Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

7 For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing perverse or twisted in them.

9 They are all plain to him that understands and right to those that have found wisdom.

10 Receive my chastening and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 For wisdom is better than precious stones; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

12 I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I invent the knowledge of giving counsel.

13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride, arrogancy, the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.

14 With me is counsel, and existence; I am understanding; strength belongs to me.

15 By me the kings reign, and the princes decree justice.

16 By me the princes rule, and all of the governors judge the earth.

17 I love those that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.

18 Riches and honour are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than precious stones, and my revenue than choice silver.

20 I shall lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment,

21 that I may cause my friends to inherit existence and I will fill their treasures.

22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

23 I was set up with eternal dominion, from the beginning, before the earth was.

24 I was begotten before the depths, before the existence of the fountains of many waters.

25 Before the mountains were founded, before the hills was I begotten.

26 While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the beginning of the dust of the world,

27 when he composed the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth,

28 when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep,

29 when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,

30 I was with him ordering everything; I was his delight every day, being content before him at all times;

31 I am content in the circumference of his earth, and my contentment is with the sons of men.

32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye sons; for blessed are those that keep my ways.

33 Hearken unto chastening, and be wise; refuse it not.

34 Blessed is the man that hears me, keeping vigil at my gates, waiting at the threshold of my doors.

35 For whosoever finds me shall find life and shall obtain the will of the LORD.

36 But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those that hate me love death.

Proverbs 9

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out her seven pillars:

2 She has killed her sacrifice; she has mingled her wine; and she has furnished her table.

3 She has sent forth her maidens; she cries upon the highest places of the city,

4 whosoever is simple, let him turn in here; as for those that lack understanding, {Heb. lacking of heart}, she saith unto him,

5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

6 Forsake that which is foolish and live and go in the way of understanding.

7 He that chastens a scorner brings shame unto himself, and he that chastens a wicked man brings himself a blot.

8 Chasten not a scorner lest he hate thee; chasten a wise man, and he will love thee.

9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple and knows nothing.

14 For she sits at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city

15 to call to those who pass by the way, to those who straighten their ways;

16 Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here; and as for him that lacks understanding, she saith unto him:

17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

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