New Living Translation NLT
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.
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Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.
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For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,
3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
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For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,
4 These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young.
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For giving to simple ones -- prudence, To a youth -- knowledge and discretion.
5 Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance
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(The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)
6 by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles.
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For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.
7 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
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Fear of Jehovah [is] a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!
8 My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
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Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,
9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck.
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For a graceful wreath [are] they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.
10 My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them!
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My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.
11 They may say, “Come and join us. Let’s hide and kill someone! Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!
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If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,
12 Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave ; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
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We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down [to] the pit,
13 Think of the great things we’ll get! We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.
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Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses [with] spoil,
14 Come, throw in your lot with us; we’ll all share the loot.”
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Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.'
15 My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths.
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My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,
16 They rush to commit evil deeds. They hurry to commit murder.
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For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.
17 If a bird sees a trap being set, it knows to stay away.
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Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.
18 But these people set an ambush for themselves; they are trying to get themselves killed.
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And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.
19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.
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So [are] the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.
20 Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square.
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Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,
21 She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate:
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At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:
22 “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge?
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`Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?
23 Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise.
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Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.
24 “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention.
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Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,
25 You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered.
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And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.
26 So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you—
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I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you.
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When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.
28 “When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me.
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Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.
29 For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD .
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Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.
30 They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them.
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They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,
31 Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes.
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And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.
32 For simpletons turn away from me—to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
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For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.
33 But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.”
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And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And [is] quiet from fear of evil!'
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.