The Proverbs Chapter 1 The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.
The words of the wise and their dark sayings.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy
mother.
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood.
Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause.
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole as those that go down into the
pit.
We shall find all precious substance.
We shall fill our houses with spoil.
Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse.
My son, walk not thou in the way with them.
Refrain thy foot from their path.
For their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood.
They lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the
owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without.
She uttereth her voice in the streets.
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates.
In the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones,
will ye love simplicity?
And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.
Turn you at my reproof.
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you.
I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man
regarded.
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.
I also will laugh at your calamity.
I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon
me, but I will not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
they would none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their
own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools
shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.