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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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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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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

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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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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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 child makes a glad father,
    but the foolish despise their mothers.(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 The one who fathers a fool gets trouble;
    the parent 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 Foolish children are a grief to their father
    and bitterness to her who bore them.(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 Those who do violence to their father and chase away their mother
    are children who cause shame and bring reproach.

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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 If you curse father or mother,
    your lamp will go out in utter darkness.(A)

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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 are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers.(A)
12 There are those who are pure in their own eyes,
    yet are not cleansed of their filthiness.(B)

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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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