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A Father’s Exhortation: Acquire Wisdom

My child,[a] listen when your father corrects you.
    Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
What you learn from them will crown you with grace
    and be a chain of honor around your neck.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:8 Hebrew My son; also in 1:10, 15.

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 Wise Advice

My children,[a] listen when your father corrects you.
    Pay attention and learn good judgment,
for I am giving you good guidance.
    Don’t turn away from my instructions.
For I, too, was once my father’s son,
    tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.

My father taught me,
“Take my words to heart.
    Follow my commands, and you will live.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Hebrew My sons.

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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The Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs of Solomon:

A wise child[a] brings joy to a father;
    a foolish child brings grief to a mother.

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Footnotes

  1. 10:1 Hebrew son; also in 10:1b.

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 Those who bring trouble on their families inherit the wind.
    The fool will be a servant to the 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 Sensible children bring joy to their father;
    foolish children despise their mother.

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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 the master’s disgraceful son
    and will share the inheritance of the master’s children.

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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 crowning glory of the aged;
    parents[a] are the pride of their children.

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Footnotes

  1. 17:6 Hebrew fathers.

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 It is painful to be the parent of a fool;
    there is no joy for the father of a rebel.

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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 Foolish children[a] bring grief to their father
    and bitterness to the one who gave them birth.

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Footnotes

  1. 17:25 Hebrew A foolish son.

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[a] is a calamity to a father;
    a quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping.

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Footnotes

  1. 19:13 Hebrew son; also in 19:27.

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 Children who mistreat their father or chase away their mother
    are an embarrassment and a public disgrace.

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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 If you insult your father or mother,
    your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.

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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”