Proverbs 1-3

Proverbs 1

¹Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

²For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,

³For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,

⁴For giving to simple ones -- prudence, To a youth -- knowledge and discretion.

⁵(The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)

⁶For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.

⁷Fear of Jehovah is a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!

⁸Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,

⁹For a graceful wreath are they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.

¹¹If they say, ‘Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,

¹²We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down to the pit,

¹³Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses with spoil,

¹⁴Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.'

¹⁵My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,

¹⁶For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.

¹⁷Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.

¹⁸And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.

²⁰Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,

²¹At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:

²²‘Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.

²⁴Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,

²⁵And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.

²⁶I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,

²⁷When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.

²⁸Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.

²⁹Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.

³⁰They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,

³¹And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.

³²For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.

³³And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And is quiet from fear of evil!'

Proverbs 2

¹My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

²To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

³For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

⁴If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

⁵Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

⁶For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

⁷Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

⁸To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

⁹Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

¹¹Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

¹²To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

¹³Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

¹⁴Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

¹⁵Whose paths are crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

¹⁶To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

¹⁷Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

¹⁸For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

¹⁹None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

²⁰That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

²¹For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

²²And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!

Proverbs 3

¹My son! my law forget not, And my commands let thy heart keep,

²For length of days and years, Life and peace they do add to thee.

³Let not kindness and truth forsake thee, Bind them on thy neck, Write them on the tablet of thy heart,

⁴And find grace and good understanding In the eyes of God and man.

⁵Trust unto Jehovah with all thy heart, And unto thine own understanding lean not.

⁶In all thy ways know thou Him, And He doth make straight thy paths.

⁷Be not wise in thine own eyes, Fear Jehovah, and turn aside from evil.

⁸Healing it is to thy navel, And moistening to thy bones.

⁹Honour Jehovah from thy substance, And from the beginning of all thine increase;

¹⁰And filled are thy barns with plenty, And with new wine thy presses break forth.

¹¹Chastisement of Jehovah, my son, despise not, And be not vexed with His reproof,

¹²For whom Jehovah loveth He reproveth, Even as a father the son He is pleased with.

¹³O the happiness of a man who hath found wisdom, And of a man who bringeth forth understanding.

¹⁴For better is her merchandise Than the merchandise of silver, And than gold -- her increase.

¹⁵Precious she is above rubies, And all thy pleasures are not comparable to her.

¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand, In her left are wealth and honour.

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

¹⁸A tree of life she is to those laying hold on her, And whoso is retaining her is happy.

¹⁹Jehovah by wisdom did found the earth, He prepared the heavens by understanding.

²⁰By His knowledge depths have been rent, And clouds do drop dew.

²¹My son! let them not turn from thine eyes, Keep thou wisdom and thoughtfulness,

²²And they are life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

²³Then thou goest thy way confidently, And thy foot doth not stumble.

²⁴If thou liest down, thou art not afraid, Yea, thou hast lain down, And sweet hath been thy sleep.

²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, And of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh.

²⁶For Jehovah is at thy side, And He hath kept thy foot from capture.

²⁷Withhold not good from its owners, When thy hand is toward God to do it.

²⁸Say not thou to thy friend, ‘Go, and return, and to-morrow I give,' And substance with thee.

²⁹Devise not against thy neighbour evil, And he sitting confidently with thee.

³⁰Strive not with a man without cause, If he have not done thee evil.

³¹Be not envious of a man of violence, Nor fix thou on any of his ways.

³²For an abomination to Jehovah is the perverted, And with the upright is His secret counsel.

³³The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the wicked. And the habitation of the righteous He blesseth.

³⁴If the scorners He doth scorn, Yet to the humble He doth give grace.

³⁵Honour do the wise inherit, And fools are bearing away shame!