Proverbs 9
International Children’s Bible
Being Wise or Foolish
9 Wisdom has built her house.
She has made its seven columns.
2 She has prepared her food and wine.
She has set her table.
3 She has sent out her servant girls.
She calls out from the highest place in the city.
4 She says to those who are not wise,
“Come in here, you foolish people!
5 Come and eat my food.
And drink the wine I have prepared.
6 Stop your foolish ways, and you will live.
Be a person of understanding.
7 “If you correct someone who makes fun of wisdom, you will get insulted.
If you correct an evil person, you will get hurt.
8 Do not correct someone who makes fun of wisdom, or he will hate you.
But correct a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Teach a wise man, and he will become even wiser.
Teach a good man, and he will learn even more.
10 “Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord.
And understanding begins with knowing God, the Holy One.
11 If you live wisely, you will live a long time.
Wisdom will add years to your life.
12 The wise person is rewarded by his wisdom.
But a person who makes fun of wisdom will suffer for it.”
13 Foolishness is like a loud woman.
She does not have wisdom or knowledge.
14 She sits at the door of her house.
It is at the highest place in the city.
15 She calls out to those who are passing by.
They are minding their own business.
16 She says to those who are not wise,
“Come in here, you foolish people!
17 Stolen water is sweeter.
Stolen food tastes better.”
18 But these people don’t know that everyone dies who goes there.
They don’t realize that her guests are deep in the grave.
Proverbs 9
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
9 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out and set up her seven [perfect number of] pillars.
2 She has killed her beasts, she has mixed her [spiritual] wine; she has also set her table.(A)
3 She has sent out her maids to cry from the highest places of the town:
4 Whoever is simple (easily led astray and wavering), let him turn in here! As for him who lacks understanding, [God’s] Wisdom says to him,
5 Come, eat of my bread and drink of the [spiritual] wine which I have mixed.(B)
6 Leave off, simple ones [forsake the foolish and simpleminded] and live! And walk in the way of insight and understanding.
7 He who rebukes a scorner heaps upon himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man gets for himself bruises.
8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.(C)
9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man (one upright and in right standing with God) and he will increase in learning.
10 The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight and understanding.
11 For by me [Wisdom from God] your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scorn, you alone will bear it and pay the penalty.
13 The foolish woman is noisy; she is simple and open to all forms of evil, she [willfully and recklessly] knows nothing whatever [of eternal value].
14 For she sits at the door of her house or on a seat in the conspicuous places of the town,
15 Calling to those who pass by, who go uprightly on their way:
16 Whoever is simple (wavering and easily led astray), let him turn in here! And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 Stolen waters (pleasures) are sweet [because they are forbidden]; and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.(D)
18 But he knows not that the shades of the dead are there [specters haunting the scene of past transgressions], and that her invited guests are [already sunk] in the depths of Sheol (the lower world, Hades, the place of the dead).
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
