Proverbs 1

Revised Standard Version

² That men may know wisdom and instruction,
    understand words of insight,
³ receive instruction in wise dealing,
    righteousness, justice, and equity;
⁴ that prudence may be given to the simple,
    knowledge and discretion to the youth—
⁵ the wise man also may hear and increase in learning,
    and the man of understanding acquire skill,
⁶ to understand a proverb and a figure,
    the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁸ Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
    and reject not your mother’s teaching;
⁹ for they are a fair garland for your head,
    and pendants for your neck.
¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
    do not consent.
¹¹ If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood,
    let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
¹² like Sheol let us swallow them alive
    and whole, like those who go down to the Pit:
¹³ we shall find all precious goods,
    we shall fill our houses with spoil;
¹⁴ throw in your lot among us,
    we will all have one purse”—
¹⁵ my son, do not walk in the way with them,
    hold back your foot from their paths;
¹⁶ for their feet run to evil,
    and they make haste to shed blood.
¹⁷ For in vain is a net spread
    in the sight of any bird;
¹⁸ but these men lie in wait for their own blood,
    they set an ambush for their own lives.
¹⁹ Such are the ways of all who get gain by violence;
    it takes away the life of its possessors.

²⁰ Wisdom cries aloud in the street;
    in the markets she raises her voice;
²¹ on the top of the walls^[a] she cries out;
    at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
    and fools hate knowledge?
²³ Give heed^[b] to my reproof;
behold, I will pour out my thoughts^[c] to you;
    I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I have called and you refused to listen,
    have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
²⁵ and you have ignored all my counsel
    and would have none of my reproof,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
    I will mock when panic strikes you,
²⁷ when panic strikes you like a storm,
    and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
    when distress and anguish come upon you.
²⁸ Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
    they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
²⁹ Because they hated knowledge
    and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
³⁰ would have none of my counsel,
    and despised all my reproof,
³¹ therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
    and be sated with their own devices.
³² For the simple are killed by their turning away,
    and the complacence of fools destroys them;
³³ but he who listens to me will dwell secure
    and will be at ease, without dread of evil.”