NAS - Proverbs Chapter 1 to 2

1 The Usefulness of Proverbs

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: ²To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, ³To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; ⁴ To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, ⁵ A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, ⁶ To understand a proverb and a figure, 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 do not forsake your mother's teaching; ⁹ Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. ¹⁰ My 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 cause; ¹² Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; ¹³ We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; ¹⁴ Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse," ¹⁵My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, ¹⁶For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. ¹⁷Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; ¹⁸ But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. ¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.

Wisdom Warns

²⁰Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; ²¹At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: ²² "How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? ²³ "Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. ²⁴"Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; ²⁵ And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; ²⁶I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, ²⁷When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. ²⁸ "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, ²⁹ Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. ³⁰ "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. ³¹"So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. ³² "For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. ³³ "But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil."

2 The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

¹My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, ²Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; ³ For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; ⁴If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; ⁵ Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, ⁸ Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. ⁹ Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. ¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; ¹¹ Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, ¹²To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; ¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; ¹⁴ Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; ¹⁵ Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; ¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; ¹⁷ That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; ¹⁸ For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; ¹⁹ None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. ²⁰ So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. ²¹ For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; ²² But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.