Proverbs

CLV^{(i) 1} The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:" ² To know wisdom and discipline, To comprehend sayings of understanding, ³ To procure the discipline to act intelligently In justice and judgment and equities, ⁴ To give to the simple, prudence, To youth, knowledge and foresight--" ⁵ The wise one may also hear and add to his education, And the man of understanding may acquire skills--" ⁶ To understand proverb and puzzle, The words of the wise and their enigmas." ⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; The foolish despise wisdom and discipline. ⁸ Hear, my son, the admonition of your father, And do not abandon the law of your mother." ⁹ For they are a wreath of grace for your head, And necklaces for your throat." ¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, do not comply with them;" ¹¹ If they say, Do walk with us, Let us wait in ambush for blood, Let us lurk gratuitously for the innocent, ¹² Like the unseen, we shall swallow them up alive, And robust like those descending to a crypt, ¹³ All precious wealth shall we find, We shall fill our houses with loot, ¹⁴ Let your lot be cast in our midst, There shall be one purse for us all, ¹⁵ My son, do not walk in the way with them; Withhold your foot from their track." ¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed blood." ¹⁷ For gratuitously is the net tossed Before the eyes of all the possessors of wings. ¹⁸ Yet they themselves wait in ambush for their own blood; They lurk for their own souls. ¹⁹ Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; It takes away the soul of its possessors. ²⁰ Wisdom is jubilating in the street; In the squares she is giving forth her voice. ²¹ At the top of the walls she is calling; At the portals of the gates in the city she is speaking her words: ²² How long, O simple ones, shall you love simplicity, And mockers covet their mocking, And the stupid hate knowledge? ²³ May you turn back at my correction; Behold, let me utter what is in my spirit to you; Let me make known my words to you." ²⁴ Because I called, and you refused, I stretched out my hand, and no one attended, ²⁵ And you renounced all my counsel, And you would not heed my reproof, ²⁶ Indeed, I myself shall ridicule you in your calamity; I shall deride when alarm comes upon you, ²⁷ When alarm comes upon you like a tumult, And calamity, it arrives upon you like a sweeping whirlwind, When distress and constraint come upon you." ²⁸ Then they shall call me, yet I shall not answer; They shall seek me early, yet shall not find me." ²⁹ Because they hated knowledge And would not choose the fear of Yahweh, ³⁰ They would not heed my counsel, They spurned all my correction, ³¹ Thus they shall eat of the fruit of their way, And they shall be surfeited with the results of their counsels." ³² For the instability of the simple, it shall kill them, And the carelessness of the stupid, it shall destroy them." ³³ Yet whoever is hearkening to me shall tabernacle in trust, And he will be tranquil, away from alarm of peril."