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

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10 My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
11 If they say,
    “Come with us!
    We shall lie in wait for blood;
    we shall ambush the innocent without cause.[a]
12 Like Sheol,[b] we will swallow them alive
    and whole, like those who descend to the pit.[c]
13 We shall find all precious wealth,
    we shall fill our houses with booty,
14 you shall throw your lot in our midst,
    there will be one purse for all of us.”
15 My child, do not walk in their way.[d]
    Keep your foot from their paths,
16 for their feet run to evil,
    and they hurry to shed blood,
17 for “in vain[e] is the net scattered,
    in the sight of any winged bird.”[f]
18 They lie in wait for their own blood.
    They ambush their own lives.
19 Thus are the ways of all who are greedy for gain—
    it will take the life of its possessors.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 1:11 Or “wantonly,” or “for nothing”
  2. Proverbs 1:12 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
  3. Proverbs 1:12 Literally “like the descenders of a pit”
  4. Proverbs 1:15 Or “on their road”
  5. Proverbs 1:17 Or “without cause,” or “for nothing”
  6. Proverbs 1:17 Literally “bird of wing”

29 A violent person entices their neighbor
    and leads them down a path that is not good.(A)

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29 A person of violence will entice his neighbor
    and cause him to walk on a way that is not good.

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26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted well
    are the righteous who give way to the wicked.

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26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
    is the righteous who gives way before the wicked.

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Stone is heavy and sand(A) a burden,
    but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

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Heavy is a stone and weighty is sand,
    but the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them.

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10 Whoever leads the upright along an evil path
    will fall into their own trap,(A)
    but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

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10 He who misleads the upright onto the way of evil,
    into his pits he will fall.
    But as for the blameless, they will inherit good.

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