1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;

1:3 To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

1:4 To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:

1:5 That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

1:6 To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

1:7 The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

1:9 For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

1:11 If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

1:12 Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit;

1:13 We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil;

1:14 Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse:

1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

1:16 For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

1:17 For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

1:18 And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.

1:19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

1:20 Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

1:21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words:

1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?

1:23 Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you.

1:24 Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:

1:26 I also will laugh in [the day of] your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

1:27 When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you.

1:28 Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:

1:29 For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:

1:30 They would none of my counsel; They despised all my reproof.

1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices.

1:32 For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.