Add parallel Print Page Options

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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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

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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Hebrew My sons.

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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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

20 Sensible children bring joy to their father;
    foolish children despise their mother.

Read full chapter

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

Read full chapter

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

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 17:25 Hebrew A foolish son.

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

Read full chapter

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

Read full chapter

11 Some people curse their father
    and do not thank their mother.
12 They are pure in their own eyes,
    but they are filthy and unwashed.

Read full chapter

17 The eye that mocks a father
    and despises a mother’s instructions
will be plucked out by ravens of the valley
    and eaten by vultures.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends