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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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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.

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Footnotes

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

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 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.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Hebrew My sons.

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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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.

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Footnotes

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

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

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

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

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

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Footnotes

  1. 17:25 Hebrew A foolish son.

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

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

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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 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.

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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 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.

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