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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)

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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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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)

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Footnotes

  1. 4.1 Heb know

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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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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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