Study Desk

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

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding,

To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice, and integrity;

To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

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

To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

A wise person will hear and increase in learning, And a person of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

To understand a proverb and a saying, The words of the wise and their riddles.

To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Listen, my son, to your father's instruction, And do not ignore your mother's teaching;

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

For they are a graceful wreath for your head And necklaces for your neck.

For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

If they say, "Come with us, Let's lie in wait for blood, Let's ambush the innocent without cause;

If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

Let's swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, like those who go down to the pit;

Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with plunder;

We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

Throw in your lot with us; We will all have one money bag,"

Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

My son, do not walk on the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,

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

For their feet run to evil, And they are quick to shed blood.

For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives.

And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

Such are the ways of everyone who makes unjust gain; It takes away the life of its possessors.

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Wisdom shouts in the street, She raises her voice in the public square;

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she declares her sayings:

She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

"How long, you naive ones, will you love simplistic thinking? And how long will scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

"Turn to my rebuke, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

"Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

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

And you neglected all my advice And did not want my rebuke;

But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

I will also laugh at your disaster; I will mock when your dread comes,

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

When your dread comes like a storm And your disaster comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.

When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but will not find me,

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD.

For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord :

"They did not accept my advice, They disdainfully rejected every rebuke from me.

They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

"So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own schemes.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

"For the faithlessness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

"But whoever listens to me will live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil."

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.