²⁰ ¶ Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets:

²¹ She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the entrance to the gates of the city she utters her words, saying,

²² How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and the fools hate knowledge?

²³ Return at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

²⁴ Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one responded;

²⁵ for because ye have disregarded all my counsel and rejected my reproof:

²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes upon you;

²⁷ when what you have feared comes as destruction, and your calamity comes as a whirlwind; when tribulation and anguish come upon you.

²⁸ Then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

²⁹ Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

³⁰ They rejected my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

³¹ Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own counsel.

³² For the rest of the ignorant shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

³³ But whosoever hearkens unto me shall dwell safely and shall rest from the fear of evil.

5 ¶ My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my intelligence;

² that thou may keep council and that thy lips may conserve knowledge.

²⁰ ¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother:

²¹ Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck.

²² When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

²³ For the commandment is fire, and the law is light; and reproofs of chastening are the way of life,

7 ¶ My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

² Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

³¹ ¶ The mouth of the just shall bring forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be cut out.

¹⁴ ¶ When intelligence is lacking, the people shall fall, but in the multitude of counsellors there is salvation.

⁵ ¶ The thoughts of the righteous are upright, but the astuteness of the wicked is deceit.

²⁶ ¶ The righteous causes his neighbour to consider: but the way of the wicked causes them to err.

¹³ ¶ Whosoever despises the word shall perish by it: but he that fears the commandment shall be rewarded.

⁷ ¶ The lips of the wise disperse wisdom, but the heart of the foolish does not so.