Proverbs 7-10

Jubilee Bible 2000

7 ¶ My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

² Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

³ Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart.

⁴ Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman:

⁵ That they may keep thee from the woman belonging to someone else, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

⁶ ¶ For at the window of my house I looked through my casement

⁷ and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,

⁸ passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

⁹ in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night;

¹⁰ and, behold, a woman met him with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart.

¹¹ (She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not abide in her house:

¹² Now without, now in the streets, she lies in wait at every corner.)

¹³ So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him,

¹⁴ I had promised sacrifices of peace; today I have paid my vows.

¹⁵ Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.

¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves.

¹⁹ For the husband is not at home; he is gone a long journey:

²⁰ He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the appointed feast day.

²¹ With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she persuaded him.

²² He went after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,

²³ until the arrow pierces through his liver. He is as a bird struggling in the snare and not knowing that it is against his own life.

²⁴ ¶ Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye sons, and attend to the words of my mouth.

²⁵ Let not thine heart decline to her ways; do not go astray in her paths.

²⁶ For she has caused many to fall down dead; yea, all the strong men have been slain by her.

²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

8 ¶ Doth not wisdom cry, and give her voice to intelligence?

² She stands in the top of high places, by the way at the crossroads of the paths.

³ She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

⁴ Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.

⁵ O ye simple, understand prudence; and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

⁶ Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

⁷ For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸ All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing perverse or twisted in them.

⁹ They are all plain to him that understands and right to those that have found wisdom.

¹⁰ Receive my chastening and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹¹ For wisdom is better than precious stones; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

¹² ¶ I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I invent the knowledge of giving counsel.

¹³ The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride, arrogancy, the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.

¹⁴ With me is counsel, and existence; I am understanding; strength belongs to me.

¹⁵ By me the kings reign, and the princes decree justice.

¹⁶ By me the princes rule, and all of the governors judge the earth.

¹⁷ I love those that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.

¹⁸ Riches and honour are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.

¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, yea, than precious stones, and my revenue than choice silver.

²⁰ I shall lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment,

²¹ that I may cause my friends to inherit existence and I will fill their treasures.

²² ¶ The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

²³ I was set up with eternal dominion, from the beginning, before the earth was.

²⁴ I was begotten before the depths, before the existence of the fountains of many waters.

²⁵ Before the mountains were founded, before the hills was I begotten.

²⁶ While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the beginning of the dust of the world,

²⁷ when he composed the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth,

²⁸ when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep,

²⁹ when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,

³⁰ I was with him ordering everything; I was his delight every day, being content before him at all times;

³¹ I am content in the circumference of his earth, and my contentment is with the sons of men.

³² ¶ Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye sons; for blessed are those that keep my ways.

³³ Hearken unto chastening, and be wise; refuse it not.

³⁴ Blessed is the man that hears me, keeping vigil at my gates, waiting at the threshold of my doors.

³⁵ For whosoever finds me shall find life and shall obtain the will of the LORD.

³⁶ But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those that hate me love death.

9 ¶ Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out her seven pillars:

² She has killed her sacrifice; she has mingled her wine; and she has furnished her table.

³ She has sent forth her maidens; she cries upon the highest places of the city,

⁴ whosoever is simple, let him turn in here; as for those that lack understanding, {Heb. lacking of heart} she saith unto him,

⁵ Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

⁶ Forsake that which is foolish and live and go in the way of understanding.

⁷ He that chastens a scorner brings shame unto himself, and he that chastens a wicked man brings himself a blot.

⁸ Chasten not a scorner lest he hate thee; chasten a wise man, and he will love thee.

⁹ Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

¹¹ For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

¹² If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

¹³ ¶ A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple and knows nothing.

¹⁴ For she sits at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city

¹⁵ to call to those who pass by the way, to those who straighten their ways;

¹⁶ Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here; and as for him that lacks understanding, she saith unto him:

¹⁷ Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

¹⁸ But he does not know that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

(The parables of Solomon.)

10 ¶ A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son is sadness unto his mother.

² ¶ Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.

³ The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but wickedness shall cast out the wicked.

⁴ ¶ He that deals with a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

⁵ ¶ He that gathers in summer is a wise son, but he that sleeps in harvest is a son that causes shame.

⁶ ¶ Blessings are upon the head of the just, but the mouth of the wicked covers violence.

⁷ ¶ The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall stink.

⁸ ¶ The wise in heart will receive the commandments, but he who speaks foolishness shall fall.

⁹ ¶ He that walks in integrity walks securely, but he that perverts his ways shall be broken.

¹⁰ ¶ He that winks with the eye causes sorrow, and he that speaks foolishness shall fall.

¹¹ ¶ The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but the mouth of the wicked covers violence.

¹² ¶ Hatred stirs up strifes, but love covers all sins.

¹³ ¶ In the lips of the prudent wisdom is found and is a rod unto the back of him that is void of understanding.

¹⁴ ¶ Wise men keep knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near unto calamity.

¹⁵ ¶ The rich man’s wealth is his strong city; the weakness of the poor is their poverty.

¹⁶ ¶ The work of the righteous is unto life, but the fruit of the wicked is for sin.

¹⁷ ¶ He is in the way of life that gives heed to chastening, but he that refuses reproof errs.

¹⁸ ¶ He that hides hatred has lying lips, and he that utters a slander, is a fool.

¹⁹ ¶ In the multitude of words there is no lack of rebellion, but he that refrains his lips is wise.

²⁰ ¶ The tongue of the just is as choice silver, but the understanding {Heb. heart} of the wicked is worth little.

²¹ The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.

²² ¶ The blessing of the LORD is that which makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

²³ ¶ To make an abomination is as sport to the fool, but wisdom is recreation to the man of intelligence.

²⁴ ¶ The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but God shall grant the desire of the righteous.

²⁵ When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is founded for ever.

²⁶ ¶ As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those that send him.

²⁷ ¶ The fear of the LORD shall prolong days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

²⁸ The hope of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked shall perish.

²⁹ ¶ The way of the LORD is strength to the perfect, but it is terror to the workers of iniquity.

³⁰ The righteous eternally shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

³¹ ¶ The mouth of the just shall bring forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be cut out.

³² The lips of the righteous shall know the will of God, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perversion.