² For learning about wisdom and instruction,
    for understanding words of insight,
³ for gaining instruction in wise dealing,
    righteousness, justice, and equity;^(B)
4 to teach shrewdness to the simple,
    knowledge and prudence to the young—^(C)
5 let the wise, too, hear and gain in learning
    and the discerning acquire skill,^(D)
6 to understand a proverb and a figure,
    the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁸ Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
    and do not reject your mother’s teaching,^(F)
9 for they are a fair garland for your head
    and pendants for your neck.^(G)
10 My child, if sinners entice you,
    do not consent.^(H)
11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
    let us wantonly ambush the innocent;^(I)
12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive
    and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.^(J)
13 We shall find all kinds of costly things;
    we shall fill our houses with spoil.
¹⁴ Throw in your lot among us;
    we will all have one purse”—
¹⁵ my child, do not walk in their way;
    keep your foot from their paths,^(K)
16 for their feet run to evil,
    and they hurry to shed blood.^(L)
17 For in vain is the net baited
    while the bird is looking on;
¹⁸ yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves!
    and set an ambush—for their own lives!
¹⁹ Such is the end^[a] of all who are greedy for gain;
    it takes away the life of its possessors.^(M)

²⁰ Wisdom cries out in the street;
    in the squares she raises her voice.^(N)
21 At the busiest corner 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?^(O)
23 Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
    I will make my words known to you.^(P)
24 Because I have called and you refused,
    have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,^(Q)
25 and because you have ignored all my counsel
    and would have none of my reproof,^(R)
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
    I will mock when panic strikes you,^(S)
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.^(T)
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,^(U)
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
    and be sated with their own devices.^(V)
32 For waywardness kills the simple,
    and the complacency of fools destroys them;^(W)
33 but those who listen to me will be secure
    and will live at ease without dread of disaster.”^(X)

2 My child, if you accept my words
    and treasure up my commandments within you,^(Y)
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding,
³ if you indeed cry out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
⁴ if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures—^(Z)
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.^(AA)
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;^(AB)
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
    he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,^(AC)
8 guarding the paths of justice
    and preserving the way of his faithful ones.^(AD)
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path,^(AE)
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹ prudence will watch over you,
    and understanding will guard you.
¹² It will save you from the way of evil,
    from those who speak perversely,
¹³ who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to walk in the ways of darkness,^(AF)
14 who rejoice in doing evil
    and delight in the perverseness of evil,^(AG)
15 those whose paths are crooked
    and who are devious in their ways.^(AH)