1 The Beginning of Knowledge

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