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)

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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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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)

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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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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.

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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,(A)
    but a foolish man despises his mother.

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

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21 To have a fool for a child brings grief;
    there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool.(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 brings grief to his father
    and bitterness to the mother 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 Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother(A)
    is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

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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 If someone curses their father or mother,(A)
    their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch 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 are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers;(A)
12 those who are pure in their own eyes(B)
    and yet are not cleansed of their filth;(C)

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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 “The eye that mocks(A) a father,
    that scorns an aged mother,
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,
    will be eaten by the vultures.(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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