King James Version
Proverbs • Chapter 1
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The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.
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To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight.
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To take instruction of wisdom, righteousness, and justice, and fairness.
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To give cunning to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.
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A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and an understanding man will acquire wise counsel.
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To understand a proverb and an expression, the words of the wise and their riddles.
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The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise.
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Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
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For they are a garland of Grace for your head and pendants for your neck.
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My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
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If they say, "Let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause."
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They swallow like Sheol the living, and the innocent like those who go down to the pit.
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All precious wealth is found, we will fill our houses with plunder.
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Your lot will be cast among us; one purse will be for all of us.
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My son, do not go in the way with them; keep your foot from their paths.
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For their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood.
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For it is a free gift, the rashness in the eyes of every master of wings.
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And they shall wait for blood; they shall hide for their lives.
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So are the paths of all who gain by violence; it takes away the life of its owners.
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Wisdom cries out in the streets; in the open squares she gives her voice.
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At the head of the days, you shall call at the openings of the gates in the city, saying to her.
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How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity, and you scoffers delight in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?
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You shall return to my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words to you.
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Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention.
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And you will carry out all my counsel, and my reproof you will not accept.
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I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes.
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When your fear comes like a storm and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
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Then they will call me, and I will not answer; they will seek me early, but they will not find me.
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Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD.
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They would not heed my counsel; they despised all my rebukes.
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And they shall eat from the fruit of their way, and from the counsel of their own they shall be satisfied.
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For the turning away of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
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And he who hears me will dwell safely and will be at ease from the fear of evil.