Prologue: Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom

Warning Against the Invitation of Sinful Men

Listen, my son,(A) to your father’s(B) instruction
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.(C)
They are a garland to grace your head
    and a chain to adorn your neck.(D)

Read full chapter

Warnings against Evil Companions

Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
    and do not reject your mother’s teaching,(A)
for they are a fair garland for your head
    and pendants for your neck.(B)

Read full chapter

Get Wisdom at Any Cost

Listen, my sons,(A) to a father’s instruction;(B)
    pay attention and gain understanding.(C)
I give you sound learning,
    so do not forsake my teaching.
For I too was a son to my father,
    still tender, and cherished by my mother.
Then he taught me, and he said to me,
    “Take hold(D) of my words with all your heart;
    keep my commands, and you will live.(E)

Read full chapter

Parental Advice

Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may gain[a] insight,(A)
for I give you good precepts:
    do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
    tender and my mother’s favorite,(B)
he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    keep my commandments and live.(C)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4.1 Heb know

Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs(A) of Solomon:(B)

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

Read full chapter

Wise Sayings of Solomon

10 The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise child makes a glad father,
    but a foolish child is a mother’s grief.(A)

Read full chapter

29 Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind,
    and the fool will be servant to the wise.(A)

Read full chapter

29 Those who trouble their households will inherit wind,
    and the fool will be servant to the wise.

Read full chapter

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

Read full chapter

20 A wise child makes a glad father,
    but the foolish despise their mothers.(A)

Read full chapter

A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son
    and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

Read full chapter

A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully
    and will share the inheritance as one of the family.(A)

Read full chapter

Children’s children(A) are a crown to the aged,
    and parents are the pride of their children.

Read full chapter

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
    and the glory of children is their parents.(A)

Read full chapter

21 To have a fool for a child brings grief;
    there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool.(A)

Read full chapter

21 The one who fathers a fool gets trouble;
    the parent of a fool has no joy.(A)

Read full chapter

25 A foolish son brings grief to his father
    and bitterness to the mother who bore him.(A)

Read full chapter

25 Foolish children are a grief to their father
    and bitterness to her who bore them.(A)

Read full chapter

13 A foolish child is a father’s ruin,(A)
    and a quarrelsome wife is like
    the constant dripping of a leaky roof.(B)

Read full chapter

13 A stupid child is ruin to a father,
    and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.(A)

Read full chapter

26 Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother(A)
    is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

Read full chapter

26 Those who do violence to their father and chase away their mother
    are children who cause shame and bring reproach.

Read full chapter

20 If someone curses their father or mother,(A)
    their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.(B)

Read full chapter

20 If you curse father or mother,
    your lamp will go out in utter darkness.(A)

Read full chapter