Beginning

4 Sons, hear ye the teaching of your father; and perceive ye (and understand ye), (so) that ye know prudence.

² I shall give to you a good gift; forsake ye not my law. (I give you a good gift; do not ye abandon my instructions.)

³ For why and I was the son of my father, a tender son, and one begotten, before my mother. (For I was my father’s son, a tender son, and my mother’s only child.)

⁴ And my father taught me, and said, Thine heart receive my words; keep thou my behests (obey my commands), and thou shalt live.

⁵ Wield thou wisdom, wield thou prudence; forget thou not, neither bow thou away from the words of my mouth.

⁶ Forsake thou not it, and it shall keep thee (safe); love thou it, and it shall keep thee (safe).

⁷ The beginning of wisdom, wield thou wisdom; and in all thy possession, get thou prudence. (The beginning of wisdom, is that thou first obtain wisdom; and among all thy possessions, of greatest importance is that thou get understanding.)

⁸ Take thou it, and it shall enhance thee; thou shalt be glorified of it, when thou hast embraced it. (Take thou it unto thy heart, and it shall advance thee, or shall promote thee, or raise thee up; thou shalt be honoured, when thou hast embraced it.)

⁹ It shall give increasings of graces to thine head; and a noble crown shall defend thee. (It shall bring many favours upon thee; and they shall adorn thee like a noble crown.)

¹⁰ My son, hear thou, and take my words (to heart); (so) that the years of (thy) life be multiplied to thee.

¹¹ I shall show to thee the way of wisdom; and I shall lead thee by the paths of equity (and I shall lead thee on the fair ways).

¹² Into which when thou hast entered, thy goings shall not be made strait; and thou shalt run, and shalt not have hurting (and thou shalt not be caused to stumble).

¹³ Hold thou (fast to my) teaching, and forsake [thou] it not; keep thou it (near), for it is thy life.

¹⁴ Delight thou not in the paths of wicked men; and the way of evil men please not thee. (Delight thou not in the paths of the wicked; and do not let the ways of evil people please thee.)

¹⁵ Flee thou from it, and pass thou not thereby; bow thou away, and forsake it.

¹⁶ For they sleep not, no but they have done evil; and sleep is ravished from them, no but they have deceived simple men. (For they do not sleep, unless first they have done some evil; and sleep is taken from them, unless first they have deceived those who be honest, or have integrity.)

¹⁷ They eat the bread of unpiety, and drink the wine of wickedness. (They eat evil bread, and drink wicked wine.)

¹⁸ But the path of just men goeth forth as light shining (But the path of the righteous goeth forth like a shining light), and increaseth till to perfect day.

¹⁹ The way of wicked men is dark (The way of the wicked is dark); they know not where, (or when,) they shall fall.

²⁰ My son, harken thou (to) my words; and bow down thine ears to my speeches.

²¹ Go not they away from thine eyes (Let them not go away from thine eyes); keep thou them in the middle of thine heart.

²² For those be life to men finding those, and health of all flesh. (For they be life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.)

²³ With all (safe) keeping keep thine heart (safe), for life cometh forth of it (for life cometh forth from it).

²⁴ Remove thou a shrewd mouth from thee (Do not thou speak depraved things); and backbiting lips be far from thee.

²⁵ Thine eyes see rightful things; and thine eyelids go before thy steps.

²⁶ (Ad)dress thou [the] paths to thy feet (Direct thou the steps of thy feet), and all thy ways shall be stablished.

²⁷ Bow thou not to the right side, neither to the left side; turn away thy foot from evil.

5 My son, perceive thou my wisdom, and bow down thine ear to my prudence; (My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and listen to my understanding of things;)

² (so) that thou keep thy thoughts (proper), and thy lips keep teaching (and thy lips speak knowingly).

³ Give thou not attention to the falseness of a woman; for the lips of an whore be an honeycomb dropping (for a whore’s lips be like a dripping honeycomb), and her throat is clearer than oil;

⁴ but the last things [of her] be (as) bitter as wormwood, and her tongue is (as) sharp as a sword carving, (or cutting,) on each side.

⁵ Her feet go down into death; and her steps pierce to hells. (Her feet go downward unto death; and her steps shall lead thee unto Sheol, or the land of the dead/and her steps shall lead thee to hell.)

⁶ Those go not by the path of life; her steps be uncertain, and may not be sought out. (They do not go on the path of life; her steps be uncertain, and should not be followed.)

⁷ Now therefore, my son, hear thou me (And so now, my son, listen to me), and go thou not away from the words of my mouth.

⁸ Make far thy way from her (Make thy way far away from her), and nigh thou not to the doors of her house.

⁹ Give thou not thine honour to aliens (Give thou not thy honour to strangers), and thy years to the cruel;

¹⁰ lest peradventure strangers be filled with thy strengths, and lest (the rewards of) thy travails be in an alien’s house; (lest perhaps strangers take all thy wealth, and the rewards of all thy efforts be in someone else’s house;)

¹¹ and thou bewail in the last days, when thou hast wasted thy flesh, and thy body;

¹² and say, Why loathed I teaching, and mine heart assented not to blamings; (and thou say, Why did I loathe discipline, and why did I not listen to rebukes;)

¹³ neither I heard the voice of men teaching me, and I bowed not down mine ear to masters?

¹⁴ Almost I was in all-evil, in the midst of the church, and of the synagogue. (I was almost uniformly despised, in the midst of the congregation, and among those in the assembly.)

¹⁵ Drink thou water of thy cistern, and the floods of thy well. (Drink thou water from thy own cistern, and out-flowings from thy own well.)

¹⁶ Thy wells be streamed forth; and part thy waters in streets. (Let thy well floweth forth; and let thy water be parted in the streets.)

¹⁷ Have thou alone them; and aliens be not thy partners. (Have thou them alone; and let not strangers be thy partners.)

¹⁸ Thy vein be blessed (Let thy fountain be blessed); and be thou glad with the woman of thy young waxing age.

¹⁹ An hind most dearworthy; and an hart calf most acceptable. Her teats fill thee in all time; and delight thou continually in the love of her. (She is like a most dearworthy deer; and a most acceptable hart calf. Let her breasts fulfill, or satisfy, thee at all times; and delight thou continually in her love.)

²⁰ My son, why art thou deceived of an alien woman; and art fostered in the bosom of another? (My son, why art thou deceived by a strange, or an unknown, woman; and why art thou comforted in the bosom of another?)

²¹ The Lord seeth the way(s) of a man; and he beholdeth all his steps.

²² The wickednesses of a wicked man take (hold of) him; and he is bound with the ropes of his sins.

²³ He shall die, for he had not learning (He shall die, for he had no discipline); and he shall be deceived in the muchliness of his folly.

6 My son, if thou hast promised for thy friend, thou hast fastened thine hand at a stranger. (My son, if thou hast pledged yourself, or made a guarantee, for thy friend, then thou hast fastened thy hand to a stranger.)

² Thou art bound by the words of thy mouth; and thou art taken with thine own words (and thou art caught by thy own words, or thy promises).

³ Therefore, my son, do thou that that I say, and deliver thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, raise thy friend; (And so my son, do thou what I say, and save thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, implore thy friend;)

⁴ give thou not sleep to thine eyes, neither (let) thine eyelids nap.

⁵ Be thou ravished, as a doe from the hand; and as a bird from [the] ambushings of the fowler. (Be thou released, like a doe from the hand of the hunter; and like a bird from the ambush of the fowler.)

⁶ O! thou slow man (O! thou lazy one), go to the ant; and behold thou his ways, and learn thou wisdom.

⁷ Which when he hath no duke, neither commander, nor prince (nor leader);

⁸ maketh ready in summer meat to himself, and gathereth together in harvest that, that he shall eat. (prepareth food for himself in the summer, and gathereth together at harvest time what he shall eat.)

⁹ How long shalt thou, slow man, sleep? (How long shalt thou, O lazy one, sleep?) when shalt thou rise from thy sleep?

¹⁰ A little thou shalt sleep, a little thou shalt nap; (and) a little thou shalt join together thine hands that thou sleep (again).

¹¹ And then neediness, as a waygoer, shall come to thee; and poverty, as an armed man. Forsooth if thou art not slow (But if thou art not lazy), thy ripe corn shall come as a well; and neediness shall flee far from thee.

¹² A man apostate, a man unprofitable, (is) he (who) goeth with a wayward mouth;

¹³ he beckoneth with (the) eyes, he trampeth with the foot, he speaketh with the finger,

¹⁴ by shrewd heart he imagineth evil, and in all time he soweth dissensions. (with a depraved heart he imagineth all kinds of evil, and at all times he soweth discord.)

¹⁵ His perdition shall come to him anon, and he shall be broken suddenly; and he shall no more have medicine. (His perdition shall come upon him at once, and suddenly he shall be broken; and then he shall be without any remedy.)

¹⁶ Six things there be, which the Lord hateth; and his soul curseth the seventh thing.

¹⁷ High eyes, a tongue liar, that is, accustomable to deadly leasing (a lying tongue, that is, one accustomed to deadly lies), hands shedding out innocent blood,

¹⁸ an heart imagining full wicked thoughts, feet swift to run into evil (feet quick to run to evil),

¹⁹ a man bringing forth leasing, a false witness; and him that soweth discord among brethren. (a liar, that is, a false witness; and he who soweth discord among brothers, or among friends.)

²⁰ My son, keep the commandments of thy father; and forsake [thou] not the law of thy mother. (My son, obey thy father’s commands; and do not thou abandon thy mother’s instructions.)

²¹ Bind thou those continually in thine heart; and encompass to thy throat. (Bind thou them continually to thy heart; and tie them about thy neck.)

²² When thou goest, go they with thee; when thou sleepest, keep they thee (safe); and thou waking, speak with them.

²³ For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the law is light, and the blaming of teaching is the way of life; (For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the Law is a light, and the rebukes of discipline pointeth to the way of life;)

²⁴ (so) that they keep thee from an evil woman, and from a flattering tongue of a strange woman.

²⁵ Thine heart covet not the fairness of her; neither be thou taken (in) by the beckonings of her. (Do not let thy heart desire her beauty; nor be thou taken in by her beckonings.)

²⁶ For the price of a whore is scarcely a gobbet of bread; but (such) a woman taketh (away) the precious soul of a man.

²⁷ Whether a man may hide fire in his bosom, that his clothes burn not; (Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his clothes not burn?)

²⁸ either go on coals, and his feet be not burnt? (or go upon coals, and his feet not be burned?)

²⁹ So he that entereth to the wife of his neighbour; (he) shall not be clean, when he hath touched her.

³⁰ It is no great sin, when a man stealeth; for he stealeth to fill an hungry soul.

³¹ And he taken shall yield the seventhfold (And if he is caught, he shall give back sevenfold); and he shall give all the chattel of his house, and (so he) shall deliver himself.

³² But he that is an adulterer, shall lose his soul, for the poverty of heart, that is, (for the) wanting of reason.

³³ He gathereth filth, and scandal to himself; and his shame shall not be done away.

³⁴ For the fervent love and strong vengeance of the man shall not spare in the day of vengeance, (For the husband’s fervent love, and desire for revenge, shall not spare him on the day of vengeance,)

³⁵ neither shall (the husband) assent to the prayers of any; neither he shall take many gifts for ransom (nor shall he take any number of gifts for recompense).