Proverbs 1

¹Proverbs 1:1. These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,²Proverbs 1:2. for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,³Proverbs 1:3. and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.⁴Proverbs 1:4. To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young,⁵Proverbs 1:5. let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel⁶Proverbs 1:6. by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.⁷Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

⁸Proverbs 1:8. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.⁹Proverbs 1:9. For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.¹⁰Proverbs 1:10. My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.¹¹Proverbs 1:11. If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,¹²Proverbs 1:12. let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.¹³Proverbs 1:13. We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.¹⁴Proverbs 1:14. Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”—¹⁵Proverbs 1:15. my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.¹⁶Proverbs 1:16. For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.¹⁷Proverbs 1:17. How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!¹⁸Proverbs 1:18. But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.¹⁹Proverbs 1:19. Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

²⁰Proverbs 1:20. Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;²¹Proverbs 1:21. in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:²²Proverbs 1:22. “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?²³Proverbs 1:23. If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.²⁴Proverbs 1:24. Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,²⁵Proverbs 1:25. because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,²⁶Proverbs 1:26. in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,²⁷Proverbs 1:27. when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.²⁸Proverbs 1:28. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.²⁹Proverbs 1:29. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.³⁰Proverbs 1:30. They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.³¹Proverbs 1:31. So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.³²Proverbs 1:32. For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.³³Proverbs 1:33. But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”