Proverbs 1:8-19

Christian Standard Bible

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,^(A)
9 for they will be a garland^(B) of favor on your head
and pendants^[a] around your neck.^(C)
10 My son, if sinners entice you,^(D)
don’t be persuaded.^(E)
11 If they say—“Come with us!
Let’s set an ambush^(F) and kill someone.^[b]
Let’s attack some innocent person^(G) just for fun!^[c]
12 Let’s swallow them alive,^(H) like Sheol,
whole, like those who go down to the Pit.^(I)
13 We’ll find all kinds of valuable property
and fill our houses with plunder.^(J)
14 Throw in your lot with us,
and we’ll all share the loot”^[d]—
¹⁵ my son, don’t travel that road with them^(K)
or set foot on their path,^(L)
16 because their feet run toward evil
and they hurry to shed blood.^(M)
17 It is useless to spread a net
where any bird can see it,
¹⁸ but they set an ambush to kill themselves;^[e]
they attack their own lives.
¹⁹ Such are the paths of all who make profit dishonestly;^(N)
it takes the lives of those who receive it.^[f]