Proverbs - Chapter 1

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

1 The wise sayings of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

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

2 To have knowledge of wise teaching; to be clear about the words of reason:

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

3 To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour:

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

4 To make the simple-minded sharp, and to give the young man knowledge, and serious purpose:

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

5 (The wise man, hearing, will get greater learning, and the acts of the man of good sense will be wisely guided:)

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

6 To get the sense of wise sayings and secrets, and of the words of the wise and their dark sayings.

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

7 The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.

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

8 My son, give ear to the training of your father, and do not give up the teaching of your mother:

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

9 For they will be a crown of grace for your head, and chain-ornaments about your neck.

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

10 My son, if sinners would take you out of the right way, do not go with them.

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

11 If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause;

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

12 Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death;

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

13 Goods of great price will be ours, our houses will be full of wealth;

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

14 Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:

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

15 My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways:

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

16 For their feet are running after evil, and they are quick to take a man's life.

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

17 Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird:

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

18 And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves.

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

19 Such is the fate of everyone who goes in search of profit; it takes away the life of its owners.

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

20 Wisdom is crying out in the street; her voice is loud in the open places;

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

21 Her words are sounding in the meeting-places, and in the doorways of the town:

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

22 How long, you simple ones, will foolish things be dear to you? and pride a delight to the haters of authority? how long will the foolish go on hating knowledge?

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

23 Be turned again by my sharp words: see, I will send the flow of my spirit on you, and make my words clear to you.

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

24 Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;

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

25 You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:

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

26 So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear;

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

27 When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you.

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

28 Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:

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

29 For they were haters of knowledge, and did not give their hearts to the fear of the Lord:

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

30 They had no desire for my teaching, and my words of protest were as nothing to them.

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

31 So the fruit of their way will be their food, and with the designs of their hearts they will be made full.

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

32 For the turning back of the simple from teaching will be the cause of their death, and the peace of the foolish will be their destruction.

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

33 But whoever gives ear to me will take his rest safely, living in peace without fear of evil.