Proverbs 1

Tree of Life Version

² to acquire wisdom and discipline,
to understand the words of insight,
³ to receive instruction in wise behavior,
righteousness, justice and fairness,
⁴ to give discernment to the naïve,
knowledge and discretion to the youth
⁵ (let the wise listen and increase learning
and the discerning obtain wise counsel)
⁶ to understand a proverb and a puzzle,
the sayings of the wise and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of Adonai is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
⁸ Hear, my son, your father’s instruction
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
⁹ For they are a garland of grace for your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in.
¹¹ Suppose they say: “Come with us!
Let’s lie in wait for blood!
Let’s ambush the innocent—for no reason!
¹² Let’s swallow them alive like Sheol—
    still healthy, as they go down to the Pit!
¹³ We’ll find all sorts of valuable things,
    we’ll fill our homes with loot!
¹⁴ Throw your lot in with us—
    we’ll all have one wallet.”
¹⁵ My son, do not go along with them,
keep your foot from their path—
¹⁶ for their feet run to evil
    and they are swift to shed blood.
¹⁷ Surely it is useless to spread a net
in the eyes of all winged creatures!
¹⁸ But they lie in wait for their own blood.
They ambush their own lives.
¹⁹ Such is the fate of all gaining by violence.
It takes the life of its possessor.

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the streets,
she raises her voice in public squares.
²¹ She cries out above the commotion.
At the entrances of the city gates, she utters her speech:
²² “How long will you naïve ones love simplicity,
you scoffers delight in scoffing,
and you fools hate knowledge?
²³ You are repulsed at my rebuke.
Behold, I pour out my heart to you.
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because you refused when I called,
and did not pay attention when I stretched out my hand,
²⁵ since you ignore all my advice
and would not accept my rebuke,
²⁶ I in turn will laugh at your calamity.
I will mock when dread comes on you,
²⁷ when your terror comes like a storm
    and your calamity sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when trouble and distress overwhelm you!
²⁸ Then they will cry out to me, but I will not answer!
They will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
²⁹ Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of Adonai,
³⁰ they would not accept my counsel,
they spurned all my reproof,
³¹ so they will eat the fruit of their own way
and be filled with their own schemes.
³² For the backsliding of the naïve will kill them
and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
³³ But whoever pays attention to me will live securely,
and be free from the fear of evil.”