Dual PanelAdvice to the reader
1THE proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,
2by which mankind will come to wisdom and instruction, will understand words that bring understanding,
3and will attain to a well-instructed intelligence, righteousness, justice, and probity.
4The simple will be endowed with shrewdness and the young with knowledge and discretion.
5By listening to them the wise will increase their learning, those with understanding will acquire skill
6to understand proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7The fear of the LORD is the foundation of knowledge; it is fools who scorn wisdom and instruction.
8Attend, my son, to your father's instruction and do not reject your mother's teaching;
9they become you like a garland on your head, a chain of honour for your neck.
10My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield.
11They may say: “Join us and lie in wait for someone's blood; let us waylay some innocent person who has done us no harm.
12We shall swallow them like Sheol though they are alive; though in health, they will be like those who go down to the abyss.
13We shall take rich treasure of every sort and fill our houses with plunder.
14Throw in your lot with us and share the common purse.”
15My son, do not go along with them, stay clear of their ways;
16they hasten hotfoot into crime, pressing on to shed blood.
17(A net is spread in vain if any bird that flies can see it.)
18It is for their own blood they lie in wait; they waylay no one but themselves.
19Such is the fate of all who strive after ill-gotten gain: it robs of their lives all who possess it.
20Wisdom cries aloud in the open air, and raises her voice in public places.
21She calls at the top of the bustling streets; at the approaches to the city gates she says:
22“How long will you simple fools be content with your simplicity?
23If only you would respond to my reproof, I would fill you with my spirit and make my precepts known to you.
24But because you refused to listen to my call, because no one heeded when I stretched out my hand,
25because you rejected all my advice and would have none of my reproof,
26I in turn shall laugh at your doom and deride you when terror comes,
27when terror comes like a hurricane and your doom approaches like a whirlwind, when anguish and distress come upon you. “The insolent delight in their insolence; the stupid hate knowledge.
28When they call to me, I shall not answer; when they seek, they will not find me.
29Because they detested knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD,
30because they did not accept my counsel and spurned all my reproof,
31now they will eat the fruits of their conduct and have a surfeit of their own devices;
32for simpletons who turn a deaf ear come to grief, and the stupid are ruined by their own complacency.
33But whoever listens to me will live without a care, undisturbed by fear of misfortune.”