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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 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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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

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

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

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

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

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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 Those who assault their father and drive out their mother
    are disgraceful children, worthy of reproach.

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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 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 There are those who are pure in their own eyes,
    yet are not cleansed of their filthiness.(B)

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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 father
    and scorns to obey a mother
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley
    and eaten by the vultures.(A)

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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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