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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Avoid evil associations

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction;
    don’t neglect your mother’s teaching;
        for they are a graceful wreath on your head,
        and beads for your neck.

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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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Love wisdom

Hear, children, fatherly instruction;
    pay attention to gain understanding.
I’ll teach you well.
    Don’t abandon my instruction.
When I was a son to my father,
    tender and my mother’s favorite,
    he taught me and said to me:
“Let your heart hold on to my words:
    Keep my commands 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 brings sorrow to his mother.

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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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20 A wise child brings joy to a father,
    but fools despise their mothers.

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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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21 Having a fool for a son brings grief;
    there’s no joy for a scoundrel’s father.

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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 foolish son is irritating to his father
    and bitter to her who gave birth to him.

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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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26 Those who assault their father and drive out their mother
    are disgraceful children, worthy of 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 Those who curse their father or mother—
    their lamp will be snuffed out when it becomes dark.

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11 There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother.(A)
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,(B)
yet is not washed from its filth.

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11 There are those who curse their father
    and don’t bless their mother.
12 There are those who think they are clean,
    but haven’t washed off their own excrement.

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17 As for the eye that ridicules a father(A)
and despises obedience to a mother,
may ravens of the valley pluck it out
and young vultures eat it.(B)

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17 An eye that mocks a father
    and rejects obedience to a mother,
    may the ravens of the river valley peck it out,
    and the eagle’s young eat it.

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