Proverbs 7-9
21st Century King James Version
7 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, “Thou art my sister,” and call understanding thy kinswoman,
5 that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the harlot who flattereth with her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7 and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man void of understanding,
8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.
10 And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house;
12 now is she outside, now in the streets and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him:
14 “I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently seeking thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with love.
19 For the master is not at home; he is gone on a long journey.
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.”
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23 until a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteneth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 Hearken unto me now, therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways; go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to hell, leading down to the chambers of death.
8 Doth not wisdom cry out, and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She standeth at the top of high places, by the wayside where the paths meet.
3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors:
4 “Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be of right things;
7 for my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;
11 for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and disclose knowledge of learned thoughts.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21 that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasuries.
22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth,
26 while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the first parts of dust of the world.
27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a compass upon the face of the deep,
28 when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
29 when He gave to the sea His decree that the waters should not pass His commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth”
30 then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him,
31 rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
32 “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain the favor of the Lord.
36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death.”
9 Wisdom hath built her house; she hath hewn out her seven pillars.
2 She hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table.
3 She hath sent forth her maidens, she crieth from the highest places of the city:
4 “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither!” As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him:
5 “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mixed.
6 Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding.”
7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth for himself shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a reproach.
8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou be a scorner, thou alone shall bear it.
13 A foolish woman is clamorous; she is simple and knoweth nothing.
14 For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city,
15 to call passers by who go rightly on their ways:
16 “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.” And as for him that lacketh understanding, she saith to him,
17 “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. The proverbs of Solomon:
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