²⁰ Wisdom calls out loudly in the street.
In the public squares she raises her voice.
²¹ At the noisy street corners she calls out.
At the entrances to the city gates she speaks her words:
²² “How long will you gullible^[a] people love being gullible?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing?
How long will fools hate knowledge?
²³ If you respond to my warning,
I will pour out my spirit for you.
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I called, but you refused to listen,
because I stretched out my hand, but no one paid attention,
²⁵ because you ignored all my advice,
and you did not accept my warning,
²⁶ therefore I will laugh at your calamity.
I will jeer when terror strikes you,
²⁷ when terror strikes you like a violent storm,
when calamity strikes you like a windstorm,
when trouble and distress come upon you.
²⁸ Then they will call to me, but I will not answer.
They will look for me, but they will not find me,
²⁹ because they hated knowledge,
and they did not choose the fear of the Lord.
³⁰ They would not accept my advice,
and they despised all my warnings.
³¹ So they will eat the fruit of their own way,
and they will be stuffed with their own schemes.
³² Therefore the wandering ways^[b] of the gullible kill them,
and the complacency of fools destroys them.
³³ But whoever listens to me will live in safety.
He will be secure, without fear of evil.”

¹³ The woman Folly is boisterous.
She is deluded. She knows nothing.
¹⁴ She sits at the doorway of her house,
on a throne on the heights of the city,
¹⁵ in order to call to those who pass by on the street,
those who are simply going along on their way,
¹⁶ “Whoever is gullible, let him turn in here.”
To someone who lacks sense she says,
¹⁷ “Stolen waters are sweet,
and food eaten in secret is delicious.”
¹⁸ But he does not know that the souls of the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of hell.^[a]