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The Prologue: Embrace Wisdom

My son, hear the instruction of your father,
    and do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
for they will be a garland of grace on your head,
    and chains about your neck.

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Wisdom Is Supreme

Hear, O children, the instruction of a father,
    and attend to know understanding.
For I give you good precepts;
    do not forsake my teaching.
For I was my father’s son,
    tender and the only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He also taught me and said to me,
    “Let your heart retain my words;
    keep my commandments, and live.

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The Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son makes a glad father,
    but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

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20 A wise son makes a father glad,
    but a foolish man despises his mother.

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21 He who fathers a fool does it to his sorrow,
    and the father of a fool has no joy.

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

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26 He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother
    is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

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20 Whoever curses his father or his mother,
    his lamp will be put out in obscure darkness.

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11 There is a generation that curses their father,
    and does not bless its mother.
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
    and yet is not washed from its filthiness.

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17 The eye that mocks at his father,
    and despises to obey his mother,
the ravens of the valley will pick it out,
    and the young eagles will eat it.

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