Prologue: Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom

Warning Against the Invitation of Sinful Men

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

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Warnings against Evil Companions

Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
    and do not reject your mother’s teaching,(A)
for they are a fair garland for your head
    and pendants for your neck.(B)

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My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

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Get Wisdom at Any Cost

Listen, my sons,(A) to a father’s instruction;(B)
    pay attention and gain understanding.(C)
I give you sound learning,
    so do not forsake my teaching.
For I too was a son to my father,
    still tender, and cherished by my mother.
Then he taught me, and he said to me,
    “Take hold(D) of my words with all your heart;
    keep my commands, and you will live.(E)

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Parental Advice

Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may gain[a] insight,(A)
for I give you good precepts:
    do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
    tender and my mother’s favorite,(B)
he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    keep my commandments and live.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 4.1 Heb know

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

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Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs(A) of Solomon:(B)

A wise son brings joy to his father,(C)
    but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

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Wise Sayings of Solomon

10 The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise child makes a glad father,
    but a foolish child is a mother’s grief.(A)

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10 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

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29 Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind,
    and the fool will be servant to the wise.(A)

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29 Those who trouble their households will inherit wind,
    and the fool will be servant to the wise.

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29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.

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20 A wise son brings joy to his father,(A)
    but a foolish man despises his mother.

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20 A wise child makes a glad father,
    but the foolish despise their mothers.(A)

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20 A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.

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A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son
    and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

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A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully
    and will share the inheritance as one of the family.(A)

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A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.

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Children’s children(A) are a crown to the aged,
    and parents are the pride of their children.

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Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
    and the glory of children is their parents.(A)

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Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

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21 To have a fool for a child brings grief;
    there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool.(A)

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21 The one who fathers a fool gets trouble;
    the parent of a fool has no joy.(A)

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21 He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.

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25 A foolish son brings grief to his father
    and bitterness to the mother who bore him.(A)

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25 Foolish children are a grief to their father
    and bitterness to her who bore them.(A)

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25 A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

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