4 Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father,
And attend to know understanding:
² For I give you good doctrine;
Forsake ye not my ^[a]law.
³ For I was a son unto my father,
Tender and ^[b]only beloved in the sight of my mother.
⁴ And he taught me, and said unto me:
Let thy heart retain my words;
Keep my commandments, and live;
⁵ Get wisdom, get understanding;
Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;
⁶ Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee;
Love her, and she will keep thee.
^7 [c]Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom;
Yea, with all ^[d]thy getting get understanding.
⁸ Exalt her, and she will promote thee;
She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
⁹ She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace;
A crown of ^[e]beauty will she deliver to thee.

¹⁰ Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings;
And the years of thy life shall be many.
¹¹ I have taught thee in the way of wisdom;
I have led thee in paths of uprightness.
¹² When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;
And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
¹³ Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:
Keep her; for she is thy life.
¹⁴ Enter not into the path of the wicked,
And walk not in the way of evil men.
¹⁵ Avoid it, pass not by it;
Turn from it, and pass on.
¹⁶ For they sleep not, except they do evil;
And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light,
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
¹⁹ The way of the wicked is as darkness:
They know not at what they stumble.

²⁰ My son, attend to my words;
Incline thine ear unto my sayings.
²¹ Let them not depart from thine eyes;
Keep them in the midst of thy heart.
²² For they are life unto those that find them,
And health to all their flesh.
²³ Keep thy heart ^[f]with all diligence;
For out of it are the issues of life.
²⁴ Put away from thee a wayward mouth,
And perverse lips put far from thee.
²⁵ Let thine eyes look right on,
And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
^26 [g]Make level the path of thy feet,
And let all thy ways be ^[h]established.
²⁷ Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
Remove thy foot from evil.

8 Doth not wisdom cry,
And understanding put forth her voice?
² On the top of high places by the way,
Where the paths meet, she standeth;
³ Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the coming in at the doors, she crieth aloud:
⁴ Unto you, O men, I call;
And my voice is to the sons of men.
⁵ O ye simple, understand prudence;
And, ye fools, be of an understanding heart.
⁶ Hear, for I will speak excellent things;
And the opening of my lips shall be right things.
⁷ For my mouth shall utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
⁸ All the words of my mouth ^[a]are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked 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 unto it.

¹² I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling,
And find out ^[b]knowledge and discretion.
¹³ The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil:
Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,
And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
¹⁴ Counsel is mine, and ^[c]sound knowledge:
I am understanding; I have might.
¹⁵ By me kings reign,
And princes decree justice.
¹⁶ By me ^[d]princes rule,
And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
¹⁷ I love them that love me;
And those that seek me ^[e]diligently shall find me.
¹⁸ Riches and honor are with me;
Yea, ^[f]durable wealth and righteousness.
¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold;
And my ^[g]revenue than choice silver.
²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice;
²¹ That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,
And that I may fill their treasuries.

²² Jehovah ^[h]possessed me in ^[i]the beginning of his way,
^[j]Before his works of old.
²³ I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
Before 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 ^[k]beginning of the dust of the world.
²⁷ When he ^[l]established the heavens, I was there:
When he set a circle upon the face of the deep,
²⁸ When he made firm the skies above,
When the fountains of the deep became strong,
²⁹ When he gave to the sea ^[m]its bound,
That the waters should not transgress his commandment,
When he ^[n]marked out the foundations of the earth;
³⁰ Then I was by him, as a master workman;
And I ^[o]was daily his delight,
^[p]Rejoicing always before him,
^31 [q]Rejoicing in his habitable earth;
And my delight was with the sons of men.

³² Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me;
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 ^[r]obtain favor of Jehovah.
³⁶ But he that ^[s]sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul:
All they that hate me love death.