| 1 |
Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: |
| 2 |
to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; |
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to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity; |
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to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. |
| 5 |
He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels: |
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to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas. |
| 7 |
The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction. |
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Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother; |
| 9 |
for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. |
| 10 |
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent not. |
| 11 |
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; |
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let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those that go down into the pit; |
| 13 |
we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: |
| 14 |
cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse: |
| 15 |
-- my son, walk not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path; |
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for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. |
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For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings. |
| 18 |
And these lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives. |
| 19 |
So are the paths of every one that is greedy of gain: it taketh away the life of its possessors. |
| 20 |
Wisdom crieth without; she raiseth her voice in the broadways; |
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she calleth in the chief [place] of concourse, in the entry of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words: |
| 22 |
How long, simple ones, will ye love simpleness, and scorners take pleasure in their scorning, and the foolish hate knowledge? |
| 23 |
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour forth my spirit unto you, I will make known to you my words. |
| 24 |
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded; |
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and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: |
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I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; |
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when your fear cometh as sudden destruction, and your calamity cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you: |
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-- then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me early, and shall not find me. |
| 29 |
Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah; |
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they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof: |
| 31 |
therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices. |
| 32 |
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish. |
| 33 |
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil. |
