for understanding proverbs and parables,
    the sayings and riddles of the wise.[a]

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
    but fools[b] despise wisdom and instruction.

Prologue: exhortations to embrace wisdom

Warning against the invitation of sinful men

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
They are a garland to grace your head
    and a chain to adorn your neck.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 1:6 Or understanding a proverb, namely, a parable, / and the sayings of the wise, their riddles
  2. Proverbs 1:7 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Proverbs, and often elsewhere in the Old Testament, denote a person who is morally deficient.