Avoid the Path of the Violent

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,(A)
for they will be a garland(B) of grace on your head
and a gold chain around your neck.(C)

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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”

A Father’s Example

Listen, my sons, to a father’s discipline,(A)
and pay attention so that you may gain understanding,
for I am giving you good instruction.(B)
Don’t abandon my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
tender and precious to my mother,
he taught me and said:
“Your heart must hold on to my words.
Keep my commands and live.(C)

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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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A Collection of Solomon’s Proverbs

10 Solomon’s proverbs:(A)

A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.(B)

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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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29 The one who brings ruin on his household(A)
will inherit the wind,(B)
and a fool will be a slave
to someone whose heart is wise.

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29 He who brings trouble to his household, he will inherit wind,[a]
    and a fool will serve the wise of heart.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 11:29 Or “breath, spirit”

20 A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.(A)

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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”

A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son
and share an inheritance among brothers.

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A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully,
    and in the midst of brothers he will share his inheritance.

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Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly,
and the pride of sons is their fathers.

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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 A man fathers a fool to his own sorrow;
the father of a fool has no joy.(A)

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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 foolish son is grief to his father
and bitterness to the one who bore him.(A)

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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 son is his father’s ruin,(A)
and a wife’s nagging is an endless dripping.(B)

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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”

26 The one who assaults his father and evicts his mother
is a disgraceful and shameful son.

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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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20 Whoever curses his father or mother(A)
his lamp will go out in deep darkness.(B)

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20 He who curses his father and his mother,
    his lamp will be extinguished in the midst of darkness.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 20:20 Literally “in a pupil of darkness”