Avoid the Path of the Violent

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,(A)
for they will be a garland(B) of grace on your head
and a gold chain around your neck.(C)

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Lecture Against Gang Behavior

My child, may you keep[a] your father’s instruction,
    and do not reject your mother’s teachings,
for they are a garland of favor for your head,
    and pendants for your neck.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 1:8 Or “obey,” or “hear”

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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A Father’s Example

Listen, my sons, to a father’s discipline,(A)
and pay attention so that you may gain understanding,
for I am giving you good instruction.(B)
Don’t abandon my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
tender and precious to my mother,
he taught me and said:
“Your heart must hold on to my words.
Keep my commands and live.(C)

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The Father’s Wisdom

Children, listen to the instruction of a father,
    and be attentive in order to know insight.
For I have given you good instruction;
    do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son to my father,
    tender and alone before my mother,
he taught me and said to me,
    “May your heart hold fast to my words;
    guard my commandments and live.

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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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A Collection of Solomon’s Proverbs

10 Solomon’s proverbs:(A)

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

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Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs of Solomon:
A wise child makes a father glad,
    but a foolish child grieves his mother.

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

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20 A child of wisdom will make a father glad,
    but a foolish person,[a] he despises his mother.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 15:20 Literally “foolishness of humankind”

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

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21 A man fathers a fool to his own sorrow;
the father of a fool has no joy.(A)

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21 He who begets a fool, there is trouble for him;
    the father of a fool will not rejoice.

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

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25 A grief to his father is the child of a fool,
    and bitterness to her who bore him.

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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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26 The one who assaults his father and evicts his mother
is a disgraceful and shameful son.

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26 He who does violence to a father, he who chases away a mother,
    is a child who causes shame and brings reproach.

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26 Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother(A)
    is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

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20 Whoever curses his father or mother(A)
his lamp will go out in deep darkness.(B)

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20 He who curses his father and his mother,
    his lamp will be extinguished in the midst of darkness.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 20:20 Literally “in a pupil of darkness”

20 If someone curses their father or mother,(A)
    their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.(B)

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11 There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother.(A)
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,(B)
yet is not washed from its filth.

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11 There is a generation that will curse its father,
    and its mother it will not bless.
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
    but from its filthiness it will not be cleansed.

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11 “There are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers;(A)
12 those who are pure in their own eyes(B)
    and yet are not cleansed of their filth;(C)

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