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Lecture Against Gang Behavior

My child, may you keep[a] your father’s instruction,
    and do not reject your mother’s teachings,
for they are a garland of favor for your head,
    and pendants for your neck.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 1:8 Or “obey,” or “hear”

Wisdom and Piety

My child, do not forget my instruction,
    and may your heart guard my commands.
For length of days, years of life,
    and peace they[a] shall add to you.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 3:2 That is, “my commands” (3:1)

The Father’s Wisdom

Children, listen to the instruction of a father,
    and be attentive in order to know insight.
For I have given you good instruction;
    do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son to my father,
    tender and alone before my mother,
he taught me and said to me,
    “May your heart hold fast to my words;
    guard my commandments and live.

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Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs of Solomon:
A wise child makes a father glad,
    but a foolish child grieves his mother.

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22 He who is good will leave an inheritance to his grandchildren,[a]
    and stored up for the righteous is the wealth of a sinner.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 13:22 Literally “sons of sons”

20 A child of wisdom will make a father glad,
    but a foolish person,[a] he despises his mother.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 15:20 Literally “foolishness of humankind”

The crown of the elderly are grandchildren,[a]
    and the glory of children is their fathers.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:6 Literally “sons of sons”

21 He who begets a fool, there is trouble for him;
    the father of a fool will not rejoice.

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25 A grief to his father is the child of a fool,
    and bitterness to her who bore him.

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13 A foolish child is a ruin to his father,
    and the quarreling of a woman[a] is a continuous dripping.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:13 Or “wife”

18 Discipline your child, for there is hope,
    but on his destruction do not set your desire.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:18 Or “soul,” or “inner self”

26 He who does violence to a father, he who chases away a mother,
    is a child who causes shame and brings reproach.

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He who walks in his integrity is righteous;
    happy are his children who follow him.

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Train the child concerning his way;[a]
    even when he is old, he will not stray from it.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:6 Literally “on the mouth of his way”

15 Folly is bound up in the heart[a] of a boy;[b]
    the rod of discipline will drive it[c] from him.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 22:15 Or “mind”
  2. Proverbs 22:15 Or “young man,” or “adolescent”
  3. Proverbs 22:15 That is, folly

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child,
    if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 As for you, with the rod you shall beat him,
    and his life[a] you will save from Sheol.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:14 Or “soul,” or “inner self”
  2. Proverbs 23:14 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld

15 As for a rod and reproof, they[a] will give wisdom,
    but a neglected child is disgraced by his mother.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 29:15 Hebrew “it”

17 Discipline your children, and they will give you rest,
    and they will give delight to your soul.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 29:17 Or “life,” or “inner self”