Proverbs Chapter 1 to 2 : English Standard Version
1:1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, 3to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; 4to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— 5Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, 6to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.
7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The Enticement of Sinners
8Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, 9for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 10My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”— 15my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, 16for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.
The Call of Wisdom
20Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; 21at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? 23If you turn at my reproof,[1] behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. 24Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, 25because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, 27when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. 28Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. 29Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, 30would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, 31therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. 32For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; 33but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
[1] Or Will you turn away at my reproof?
2 The Value of Wisdom
2:1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. 9Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 12delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, 13who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, 14who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.
16So you will be delivered from the forbidden[2] woman, from the adulteress[3] with her smooth words, 17who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; 18for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;[4] 19none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.
20So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, 22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
[2] Hebrew strange [3] Hebrew foreign woman [4] Hebrew to the Rephaim