[2:1] My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you; [2:2] So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; [2:3] Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; [2:4] If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures: [2:5] then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God. [2:6] For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. [2:7] He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity; [2:8] that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints. [2:9] Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path. [2:10] For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. [2:11] Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you, [2:12] to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things; [2:13] who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; [2:14] who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil; [2:15] who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths: [2:16] To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words; [2:17] who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God: [2:18] for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead. [2:19] None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life: [2:20] that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. [2:21] For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it. [2:22] But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
[3:1] My son, don't forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments: [3:2] for length of days, and years of life, and peace, will they add to you. [3:3] Don't let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. [3:4] So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man. [3:5] Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding. [3:6] In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. [3:7] Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil. [3:8] It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones. [3:9] Honor Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase: [3:10] so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. [3:11] My son, don't despise Yahweh's discipline, neither be weary of his reproof: [3:12] for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights. [3:13] Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding. [3:14] For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold. [3:15] She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her. [3:16] Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. [3:17] Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace. [3:18] She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her. [3:19] By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. [3:20] By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. [3:21] My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion: [3:22] so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck. [3:23] Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won't stumble. [3:24] When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. [3:25] Don't be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes: [3:26] for Yahweh will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken. [3:27] Don't withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. [3:28] Don't say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you," when you have it by you. [3:29] Don't devise evil against your neighbor, seeing he dwells securely by you. [3:30] Don't strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. [3:31] Don't envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. [3:32] For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright. [3:33] Yahweh's curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous. [3:34] Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble. [3:35] The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.
[4:1] Listen, sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and know understanding; [4:2] for I give you sound learning. Don't forsake my law. [4:3] For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. [4:4] He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live. [4:5] Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth. [4:6] Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you. [4:7] Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding. [4:8] Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her. [4:9] She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you." [4:10] Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many. [4:11] I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths. [4:12] When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble. [4:13] Take firm hold of instruction. Don't let her go. Keep her, for she is your life. [4:14] Don't enter into the path of the wicked. Don't walk in the way of evil men. [4:15] Avoid it, and don't pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on. [4:16] For they don't sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall. [4:17] For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. [4:18] But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day. [4:19] The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don't know what they stumble over. [4:20] My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. [4:21] Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. [4:22] For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. [4:23] Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life. [4:24] Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you. [4:25] Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. [4:26] Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established. [4:27] Don't turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
[5:1] My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding: [5:2] that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge. [5:3] For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil, [5:4] But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword. [5:5] Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. [5:6] She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it. [5:7] Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don't depart from the words of my mouth. [5:8] Remove your way far from her. Don't come near the door of her house, [5:9] lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; [5:10] lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house. [5:11] You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, [5:12] and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; [5:13] neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! [5:14] I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly." [5:15] Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well. [5:16] Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? [5:17] Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you. [5:18] Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. [5:19] A loving doe and a graceful deer-- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love. [5:20] For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another? [5:21] For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths. [5:22] The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly. [5:23] He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
[6:1] My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger; [6:2] You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth. [6:3] Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor. [6:4] Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. [6:5] Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. [6:6] Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; [6:7] which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, [6:8] provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. [6:9] How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? [6:10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: [6:11] so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man. [6:12] A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth; [6:13] who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers; [6:14] in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord. [6:15] Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy. [6:16] There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him: [6:17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood; [6:18] a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, [6:19] a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. [6:20] My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake your mother's teaching. [6:21] Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. [6:22] When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you. [6:23] For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, [6:24] to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue. [6:25] Don't lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids. [6:26] For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life. [6:27] Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? [6:28] Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? [6:29] So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished. [6:30] Men don't despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry: [6:31] but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house. [6:32] He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. [6:33] He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away. [6:34] For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance. [6:35] He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
[7:1] My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you. [7:2] Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye. [7:3] Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. [7:4] Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative, [7:5] that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words. [7:6] For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice. [7:7] I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding, [7:8] passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house, [7:9] in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. [7:10] Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. [7:11] She is loud and defiant. Her feet don't stay in her house. [7:12] Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. [7:13] So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him: [7:14] "Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows. [7:15] Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you. [7:16] I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. [7:17] I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. [7:18] Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving. [7:19] For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey. [7:20] He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon." [7:21] With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. [7:22] He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. [7:23] Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life. [7:24] Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. [7:25] Don't let your heart turn to her ways. Don't go astray in her paths, [7:26] for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army. [7:27] Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
[8:1] Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice? [8:2] On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands. [8:3] Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud: [8:4] "To you men, I call! I send my voice to the sons of mankind. [8:5] You simple, understand prudence. You fools, be of an understanding heart. [8:6] Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things. [8:7] For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. [8:8] All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. [8:9] They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge. [8:10] Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold. [8:11] For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it. [8:12] "I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion. [8:13] The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth. [8:14] Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power. [8:15] By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. [8:16] By me princes rule; nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth. [8:17] I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me. [8:18] With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity. [8:19] My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver. [8:20] I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice; [8:21] That I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries. [8:22] "Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. [8:23] I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. [8:24] When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. [8:25] Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth; [8:26] while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. [8:27] When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep, [8:28] when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong, [8:29] when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth; [8:30] then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him, [8:31] Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men. [8:32] "Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways. [8:33] Hear instruction, and be wise. Don't refuse it. [8:34] Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. [8:35] For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. [8:36] But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death."
[9:1] Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. [9:2] She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. [9:3] She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: [9:4] "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, [9:5] "Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! [9:6] Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding." [9:7] He who corrects a mocker invites insult. He who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. [9:8] Don't reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. [9:9] Instruct a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. [9:10] The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. [9:11] For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased. [9:12] If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you mock, you alone will bear it. [9:13] The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing. [9:14] She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, [9:15] To call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways, [9:16] "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here." as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, [9:17] "Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant." [9:18] But he doesn't know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
[10:1] The proverbs of Solomon.
A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother. [10:2] Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. [10:3] Yahweh will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked. [10:4] He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth. [10:5] He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame. [10:6] Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. [10:7] The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. [10:8] The wise in heart accept commandments, but a chattering fool will fall. [10:9] He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out. [10:10] One winking with the eye causes sorrow, but a chattering fool will fall. [10:11] The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. [10:12] Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs. [10:13] Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding. [10:14] Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin. [10:15] The rich man's wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty. [10:16] The labor of the righteous leads to life. The increase of the wicked leads to sin. [10:17] He is in the way of life who heeds correction, but he who forsakes reproof leads others astray. [10:18] He who hides hatred has lying lips. He who utters a slander is a fool. [10:19] In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely. [10:20] The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. [10:21] The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding. [10:22] Yahweh's blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. [10:23] It is a fool's pleasure to do wickedness, but wisdom is a man of understanding's pleasure. [10:24] What the wicked fear, will overtake them, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. [10:25] When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever. [10:26] As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. [10:27] The fear of Yahweh prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. [10:28] The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish. [10:29] The way of Yahweh is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity. [10:30] The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. [10:31] The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. [10:32] The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked is perverse.