Proverbs 1
Common English Bible
Purpose of Proverbs
1 The proverbs of Solomon, King David’s son, from Israel:
2 Their purpose is to teach wisdom and discipline,
to help one understand wise sayings.
3 They provide insightful instruction,
which is righteous, just, and full of integrity.
4 They make the naive mature,
the young knowledgeable and discreet.
5 The wise hear them and grow in wisdom;
those with understanding gain guidance.
6 They help one understand proverbs and difficult sayings,
the words of the wise, and their puzzles.
7 Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Avoid evil associations
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction;
don’t neglect your mother’s teaching;
9 for they are a graceful wreath on your head,
and beads for your neck.
10 My son, don’t let sinners entice you.
Don’t go
11 when they say:
“Come with us.
Let’s set up a deadly ambush.
Let’s secretly wait for the innocent just for fun.
12 Let’s swallow up the living like the grave[a]—
whole, like those who go down into the pit.
13 We’ll find all sorts of precious wealth;
we’ll fill our houses with plunder.
14 Throw in your lot with us;
we’ll share our money.”
15 My son, don’t go on the path with them;
keep your feet from their way,
16 because their feet run to evil;
they hurry to spill blood.
17 It’s useless to cast a net
in the sight of a bird.
18 But these sinners set up a deadly ambush;
they lie in wait for their own lives.
19 These are the ways of all who seek unjust gain;
it costs them their lives.
Listen to “Woman Wisdom”
20 Wisdom shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
21 Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
22 “How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
23 You should respond when I correct you.
Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
24 I invited you, but you rejected me;
I stretched out my hand to you,
but you paid no attention.
25 You ignored all my advice,
and you didn’t want me to correct you.
26 So I’ll laugh at your disaster;
I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
27 when terror hits you like a hurricane,
and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
when distress and oppression overcome you.
28 Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
they will seek me, but won’t find me
29 because they hated knowledge
and didn’t choose the fear of the Lord.
30 They didn’t want my advice;
they rejected all my corrections.
31 They will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
32 The immature will die because they turn away;
smugness will destroy fools.
33 Those who obey me will dwell securely,
untroubled by the dread of harm.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 1:12 Heb Sheol
Mishle 1
Orthodox Jewish Bible
1 Mishlei Sh’lomo Ben Dovid, Melech Yisroel;
2 To have da’as of chochmah and musar (discipline); to understand the words of binah;
3 To receive the musar of those with seichel, tzedek and mishpat, and meisharim (equity, uprightness);
4 To give subtlety to the simple, to the na’ar, da’as and discretion.
5 A chacham (wise person) will hear, and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a mashal (proverb), and the melitzah (enigma); the divrei chachamim, and their chidot (riddles).
7 The Yirat Hashem is the reshit da’as, but fools despise chochmah and musar.
8 Beni (my son), hear the musar Avicha, and forsake not the Torat Immecha.
9 For they shall be a garland of chen unto thy rosh, and a chain about thy neck.
10 Beni (my son), if chatt’aim (sinners) entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for dahm, let us lurk secretly for the naki (innocent, harmless) chinnom (without cause);
12 Let us swallow them up chayyim (alive) like She’ol; and whole, as those that go down into the bor (pit);
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill bateinu (our houses) with plunder;
14 Throw in thy goral (lot) among us; let all of us have kis echad (one pouch, purse).
15 Beni (my son), walk not thou in the derech with them; refrain thy regel from their path;
16 For their raglayim run to rah, and make haste for shefach dahm (shedding of blood).
17 Surely in vain the reshet (net) is spread in the eyes of kol ba’al kanaf (all the birds, i.e., lit. master of [the] wing);
18 And they lie in wait for their own dahm; they lurk secretly for their own nafshot.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy for betza (ill-gotten gain); which taketh away the nefesh of the be’alim (owners) thereof.
20 Chochmot crieth out in the street; she lifts up her voice in the rechovot (city squares);
21 She crieth out in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the she’arim (gates); in the Ir (city) she uttereth her words, saying,
22 Ad mosai, ye simple ones, will ye love being simpletons? And the scoffers delight in their mockery, and kesilim (fools) hate da’as?
23 Turn you at my tokhechah (reproof); hinei, I will pour out my ruach unto you, I will make known my devarim unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my yad, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have disdained all my etza (counsel), and would have none of my tokhechah (reproof);
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your pachad (terror) cometh;
27 When your pachad (terror) cometh like a storm, and your calamity cometh like a whirlwind; when tzarah (distress) and oppression cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall look for me diligently, but they shall not find me;
29 For that they hated da’as, and did not choose the Yirat Hashem;
30 They would have none of my etza (counsel); they despised all my tokhechah (reproof).
31 Therefore shall they eat of the p’ri (fruit) of their own derech, and be filled with their own mo’atzot (schemes, devices).
32 For the waywardness of the simple shall slay them, and the complacent contentment of kesilim (fools) shall destroy them.
33 But the one who payeth heed unto me [Chochmat Hashem, i.e., the Redemptive Word, not only Hashem’s creative agent (Ps 33:6; Prov 8:30; 30:4) but the one who comes with a healing mission according to Ps 107:20, though Moshiach has to die in the midst of his healing Mission to accomplish our healing from guilt and punitive dread-Isa 53:5] shall dwell safely, and shall be secure from pachad ra’ah (terror of evil).
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