¹The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.

²To know wisdom and discipline, to discern the words of understanding.

³To take the discipline of wise conduct: righteousness, justice, and uprightness.

⁴To give prudence to the naive, knowledge and discretion to the youth.

⁵Let the wise hear and add to learning, and let the discerning acquire counsel.

⁶To discern a proverb and a satire, the word of the wise and their riddles.

⁷The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

⁸Hear, my son, the discipline of your father, and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.

⁹For they are a wreath of favor to your head, and necklaces 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 lie hidden for the innocent without cause;

¹²let us swallow them down like Sheol, alive and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³we will find all precious wealth, we will fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴you will cast your lot in the midst of us, one purse will be for all of us;

¹⁵my son, do not walk in the way with them, hold back your foot from their path.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to pour out blood.

¹⁷For in vain the net is scattered in the eyes of every owner of a wing.

¹⁸And they lie in wait for their own blood, they lie hidden for their own beings.

¹⁹So are the paths of everyone who gains by violence unjust profit; it takes the life of its owners.

²⁰Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the broad places she gives her voice;

²¹at the top of the boisterous places she calls, at the entrance of the gates in the city she says her words:

²²How long, O naive people, will you love naivete, and mockers delight in mockery for themselves, and fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn back to my rebuke; behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make known my words to you.

²⁴Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand, and there was no one who pays attention,

²⁵and you let go of all my counsel, and you did not consent to my rebuke,

²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your dread comes.

²⁷when your dread comes like devastation, and your calamity arrives like a storm-wind, when distress and constraint come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call me, and I will not answer; they will look diligently for me, and they will not find me.

²⁹Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,

³⁰they were not willing for my counsel, they spurned all my rebuke;

³¹so they will eat of the fruit of their way, and will be sated with their own counsels.

³²For the turning back of the naive will kill them, and the ease of fools will destroy them.

³³But one who listens to me will dwell in security, and will be at ease from the dread of evil.