Proverbs 1-3

Proverbs 1

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

²To know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;

³To receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness and judgment and equity;

⁴To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion:

⁵That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; and that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

⁶To understand a proverb, and a figure; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

⁹For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

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

¹¹If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

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

¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil;

¹⁴Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; we will all have one purse:

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

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

¹⁷For in vain is the net spread, in the eyes of any bird:

¹⁸And these lay wait for their own blood, they lurk privily for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; it taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

²⁰Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; she uttereth her voice in the broad places;

²¹She crieth in the chief place of concourse; at the entering in of the gates, in the city, she uttereth her words:

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

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

²⁴Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

²⁵But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

²⁶I also will laugh in the day of your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

²⁷When your fear cometh as a storm, and your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you.

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

²⁹For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

³⁰They would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof:

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

³²For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

³³But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear of evil.

Proverbs 2

¹My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee;

²So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

³Yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding;

⁴If thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;

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

⁶For the LORD giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:

⁷He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright, he is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

⁸That he may guard the paths of judgment, and preserve the way of his saints.

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

¹⁰For wisdom shall enter into thine heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

¹¹Discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee:

¹²To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the men that speak froward things;

¹³Who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil;

¹⁵Who are crooked in their ways, and perverse in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

¹⁷Which forsaketh the friend of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God:

¹⁸For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead:

¹⁹None that go unto her return again, neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

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

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

²²But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and they that deal treacherously shall be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 3

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

²For length of days, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

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

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

⁵Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding:

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

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

⁸It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

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

¹⁰So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine.

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

¹²For whom the LORD loveth he reproveth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

¹³Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

¹⁴For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies: and none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her.

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

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

¹⁸She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

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

²⁰By his knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.

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

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

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

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

²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh:

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

²⁷Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

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

²⁹Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

³⁰Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

³¹Envy thou not the man of violence, and choose none of his ways.

³²For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the upright.

³³The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the righteous.

³⁴Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

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