14 For lack of guidance a nation falls,(A)
    but victory is won through many advisers.(B)

Read full chapter

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers(A) or addicted to much wine,(B) but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women(C) to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled(D) and pure, to be busy at home,(E) to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands,(F) so that no one will malign the word of God.(G)

Read full chapter

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)

10 My son, if sinful men entice(E) you,
    do not give in(F) to them.(G)
11 If they say, “Come along with us;
    let’s lie in wait(H) for innocent blood,
    let’s ambush some harmless soul;
12 let’s swallow(I) them alive, like the grave,
    and whole, like those who go down to the pit;(J)
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
    and fill our houses with plunder;
14 cast lots with us;
    we will all share the loot(K)”—
15 my son, do not go along with them,
    do not set foot(L) on their paths;(M)
16 for their feet rush into evil,(N)
    they are swift to shed blood.(O)
17 How useless to spread a net
    where every bird can see it!
18 These men lie in wait(P) for their own blood;
    they ambush only themselves!(Q)
19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
    it takes away the life of those who get it.(R)

Read full chapter

Wisdom Bestows Well-Being

My son,(A) do not forget my teaching,(B)
    but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years(C)
    and bring you peace and prosperity.(D)

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends