ASV - Proverbs Chapter 7 to 8

7 Proverbs 7

¹My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee. ²Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye. ³Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart. ⁴Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding thy kinswoman: ⁵That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words. ⁶For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice; ⁷And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding, ⁸Passing through the street near her corner; And he went the way to her house, ⁹In the twilight, in the evening of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness. ¹⁰And, behold, there met him a woman With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart. ¹¹She is clamorous and wilful; Her feet abide not in her house: ¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, And lieth in wait at every corner. ¹³So she caught him, and kissed him, And with an impudent face she said unto him: ¹⁴Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; This day have I paid my vows. ¹⁵Therefore came I forth to meet thee, Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. ¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. ¹⁷I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; Let us solace ourselves with loves. ¹⁹For the man is not at home; He is gone a long journey: ²⁰He hath taken a bag of money with him; He will come home at the full moon. ²¹With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield; With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along. ²²He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool; ²³Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.

²⁴Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me, And attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not thy heart decline to her ways; Go not astray in her paths. ²⁶For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, all her slain are a mighty host. ²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.

8 Proverbs 8

¹Doth not wisdom cry, And understanding put forth her voice? ²On the top of high places by the way, Where the paths meet, she standeth; ³Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, At the coming in at the doors, she crieth aloud: ⁴Unto you, O men, I call; And my voice is to the sons of men. ⁵O ye simple, understand prudence; And, ye fools, be of an understanding heart. ⁶Hear, for I will speak excellent things; And the opening of my lips shall be right things. ⁷For my mouth shall utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. ⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. ⁹They are all plain to him that understandeth, And right to them that find knowledge. ¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not silver; And knowledge rather than choice gold. ¹¹For wisdom is better than rubies; And all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto it.

¹²I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling, And find out knowledge and discretion. ¹³The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the perverse mouth, do I hate. ¹⁴Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge: I am understanding; I have might. ¹⁵By me kings reign, And princes decree justice. ¹⁶By me princes rule, And nobles, even all the judges of the earth. ¹⁷I love them that love me; And those that seek me diligently shall find me. ¹⁸Riches and honor are with me; Yea, durable wealth and righteousness. ¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; And my revenue than choice silver. ²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice; ²¹That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, And that I may fill their treasuries.

²²Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old. ²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth was. ²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water. ²⁵Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth; ²⁶While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the beginning of the dust of the world. ²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there: When he set a circle upon the face of the deep, ²⁸When he made firm the skies above, When the fountains of the deep became strong, ²⁹When he gave to the sea its bound, That the waters should not transgress his commandment, When he marked out the foundations of the earth; ³⁰Then I was by him, as a master workman; And I was daily his delight, Rejoicing always before him, ³¹Rejoicing in his habitable earth; And my delight was with the sons of men.

³²Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me; For blessed are they that keep my ways. ³³Hear instruction, and be wise, And refuse it not. ³⁴Blessed is the man that heareth me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. ³⁵For whoso findeth me findeth life, And shall obtain favor of Jehovah. ³⁶But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: All they that hate me love death.