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10 My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
11 If they say,
    “Come with us!
    We shall lie in wait for blood;
    we shall ambush the innocent without cause.[a]
12 Like Sheol,[b] we will swallow them alive
    and whole, like those who descend to the pit.[c]
13 We shall find all precious wealth,
    we shall fill our houses with booty,
14 you shall throw your lot in our midst,
    there will be one purse for all of us.”
15 My child, do not walk in their way.[d]
    Keep your foot from their paths,
16 for their feet run to evil,
    and they hurry to shed blood,
17 for “in vain[e] is the net scattered,
    in the sight of any winged bird.”[f]
18 They lie in wait for their own blood.
    They ambush their own lives.
19 Thus are the ways of all who are greedy for gain—
    it will take the life of its possessors.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 1:11 Or “wantonly,” or “for nothing”
  2. Proverbs 1:12 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
  3. Proverbs 1:12 Literally “like the descenders of a pit”
  4. Proverbs 1:15 Or “on their road”
  5. Proverbs 1:17 Or “without cause,” or “for nothing”
  6. Proverbs 1:17 Literally “bird of wing”

10 My son, if sinners (A)entice you,
    do not consent.
11 If they say, “Come with us, (B)let us lie in wait for blood;
    (C)let us ambush the innocent without reason;
12 like Sheol let us (D)swallow them alive,
    and whole, like (E)those who go down to the pit;
13 we shall find all precious goods,
    we shall fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot among us;
    we will all have one purse”—
15 my son, (F)do not walk in the way with them;
    (G)hold back your foot from their paths,
16 for (H)their feet run to evil,
    and they make haste to shed blood.
17 (I)For in vain is a net spread
    in the sight of any bird,
18 but these men (J)lie in wait for their own blood;
    they (K)set an ambush for their own lives.
19 (L)Such are the ways of everyone who is (M)greedy for unjust gain;
    (N)it takes away the life of its possessors.

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