Beginning

1 Mishlei Sh’lomo Ben Dovid, Melech Yisroel;

² To have da’as of chochmah and musar (discipline); to understand the words of binah;

³ To receive the musar of those with seichel, tzedek and mishpat, and meisharim (equity, uprightness);

⁴ To give subtlety to the simple, to the na’ar, da’as and discretion.

⁵ A chacham (wise person) will hear, and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

⁶ To understand a mashal (proverb), and the melitzah (enigma); the divrei chachamim, and their chidot (riddles).

⁷ The Yirat Hashem is the reshit da’as, but fools despise chochmah and musar.

⁸ Beni (my son), hear the musar Avicha, and forsake not the Torat Immecha.

⁹ For they shall be a garland of chen unto thy rosh, and a chain about thy neck.

¹⁰ Beni (my son), if chatt’aim (sinners) entice thee, consent thou not.

¹¹ If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for dahm, let us lurk secretly for the naki (innocent, harmless) chinnom (without cause);

¹² Let us swallow them up chayyim (alive) like She’ol; and whole, as those that go down into the bor (pit);

¹³ We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill bateinu (our houses) with plunder;

¹⁴ Throw in thy goral (lot) among us; let all of us have kis echad (one pouch, purse).

¹⁵ Beni (my son), walk not thou in the derech with them; refrain thy regel from their path;

¹⁶ For their raglayim run to rah, and make haste for shefach dahm (shedding of blood).

¹⁷ Surely in vain the reshet (net) is spread in the eyes of kol ba’al kanaf (all the birds, i.e., lit. master of [the] wing);

¹⁸ And they lie in wait for their own dahm; they lurk secretly for their own nafshot.

¹⁹ So are the ways of every one that is greedy for betza (ill-gotten gain); which taketh away the nefesh of the be’alim (owners) thereof.

²⁰ Chochmot crieth out in the street; she lifts up her voice in the rechovot (city squares);

²¹ She crieth out in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the she’arim (gates); in the Ir (city) she uttereth her words, saying,

²² Ad mosai, ye simple ones, will ye love being simpletons? And the scoffers delight in their mockery, and kesilim (fools) hate da’as?

²³ Turn you at my tokhechah (reproof); hinei, I will pour out my ruach unto you, I will make known my devarim unto you.

²⁴ Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my yad, and no man regarded;

²⁵ But ye have disdained all my etza (counsel), and would have none of my tokhechah (reproof);

²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your pachad (terror) cometh;

²⁷ When your pachad (terror) cometh like a storm, and your calamity cometh like a whirlwind; when tzarah (distress) and oppression cometh upon you.

²⁸ Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall look for me diligently, but they shall not find me;

²⁹ For that they hated da’as, and did not choose the Yirat Hashem;

³⁰ They would have none of my etza (counsel); they despised all my tokhechah (reproof).

³¹ Therefore shall they eat of the p’ri (fruit) of their own derech, and be filled with their own mo’atzot (schemes, devices).

³² For the waywardness of the simple shall slay them, and the complacent contentment of kesilim (fools) shall destroy them.

³³ But the one who payeth heed unto me [Chochmat Hashem, i.e., the Redemptive Word, not only Hashem’s creative agent (Ps 33:6; Prov 8:30; 30:4) but the one who comes with a healing mission according to Ps 107:20, though Moshiach has to die in the midst of his healing Mission to accomplish our healing from guilt and punitive dread-Isa 53:5] shall dwell safely, and shall be secure from pachad ra’ah (terror of evil).

2 Beni (my son), if thou wilt receive my words, and treasure my mitzvot with thee;

² So that thou incline thine ear unto chochmah, and apply thine lev to tevunah (understanding);

³ Yea, if thou criest out after binah, and liftest up thy voice for tevunah (understanding)

⁴ If thou seekest her as kesef, and searchest for her as for matmonim (hidden treasures);

⁵ Then shalt thou understand the Yirat Hashem, and find the Da’as Elohim.

⁶ For Hashem giveth chochmah; out of His Peh (mouth) cometh da’as (knowledge) and tevunah (understanding).

⁷ He layeth up tushiyyah (wise Torah counsel) for the yesharim (upright ones); He is a mogen (shield) to them that walk in blamelessness.

⁸ He keepeth the orkhot mishpat, and is shomer over the derech of His Chasidim.

⁹ Then shalt thou understand tzedek, and mishpat, and mesharim (equity, fairness)‖every ma’agal tov (good path).

¹⁰ When chochmah entereth into thine lev, and da’as (knowledge) is pleasant unto thy nefesh;

¹¹ Mezimah (discretion) shall be shomer over thee, tevunah (understanding) shall safeguard thee;

¹² To save thee from the derech rah, from the ish medaber tahpukhot (man speaking perverse things);

¹³ Who leaving the orkhot yosher (paths of uprightness), walk in the drakhei choshech (ways of darkness);

¹⁴ Who rejoice to do rah, and delight in the tahpukhot (perverse things) of rah (evil);

¹⁵ Whose orkhot (paths) are crooked ones, and they are devious in their ma’agalot (paths);

¹⁶ To save thee from the isha zarah (strange woman), even from the nokhriyah (strange [immoral] woman) which useth smooth words;

¹⁷ Which forsaketh the alluf (companion, husband) of her youth, and forgetteth the brit (covenant) of her G-d.

¹⁸ For her bais inclineth toward mavet, and her ma’agalot (paths) to the refa’im (spirits of the dead).

¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither attain they to the orkhot chayyim (paths of life).

²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the derech tovim, and be shomer over the orkhot tzaddikim (paths of the righteous).

²¹ For the yesharim (upright ones) shall dwell in the land, and the tamimim (blameless, faultless ones) shall remain in it.

²² But the resha’im shall be cut off from ha’aretz, and the bogedim (treacherous ones) shall be rooted out of it.

3 Beni (my son), forget not my torah; but let thine lev keep my mitzvot;

² For orekh yamim (length of days), and shnot chayyim, and shalom, shall they add to thee.

³ Let not chesed and emes forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them upon the luach (tablet) of thine lev;

⁴ So shalt thou find chen and seichel tov in the eyes of Elohim and adam.

⁵ Trust in Hashem with all thine lev, and lean not unto thine own binah (understanding).

⁶ In all thy drakhim acknowledge Him, and He shall make yosher thy orkhot (paths).

⁷ Be not chacham in thine own eyes; fear Hashem, and depart from rah.

⁸ It shall be rife’ut (health) to thy navel, and marrow to thy atzmot.

⁹ Honor Hashem with thy substance, and with the reshit (firstfruit) of all thine increase;

¹⁰ So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall burst out with tirosh.

¹¹ Beni (my son), despise not the musar Hashem; neither be weary of His tokhakhah (reproof);

¹² For whom Hashem loveth, He correcteth; even as an av the ben in whom he delighteth.

¹³ Ashrei (happy) is the man that findeth chochmah, and the man that getteth tevunah (understanding).

¹⁴ For the gain of it is better than the gain of kesef, and the increase thereof than fine gold.

¹⁵ She is more precious than peninim (pearls); and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

¹⁶ Orekh yamim is in her right hand; and in her left hand osher and kavod.

¹⁷ Her drakhim are drakhim of pleasantness, and all her netivot (trodden paths) are shalom.

¹⁸ She is an Etz Chayyim (Tree of Life) to them that lay hold upon her; and me’usher (blessed) is every one that holdeth her fast.

¹⁹ Hashem by chochmah hath founded Eretz (Earth); by tevunah (understanding) hath He established Shomayim.

²⁰ By His da’as (knowledge) the tehomot (oceanic depths) were divided, and the clouds drop down the tal (dew).

²¹ Beni (my son), let not them depart from thine eyes; keep sound judgment and mezimah (discretion);

²² So shall they be chayyim unto thy nefesh, and chen to thy neck.

²³ Then shalt thou walk in thy derech safely, and thy regel shall not stumble.

²⁴ When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid; when thou liest down, thy sheynah (sleep) shall be sweet.

²⁵ Be not afraid of sudden pachad (terror), neither of the desolation of the resha’im (wicked ones), when it cometh.

²⁶ For Hashem shall be thy confidence, and shall be shomer over thy regel from the snare.

²⁷ Withhold not tov from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine yad to do it.

²⁸ Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and makhar (tomorrow) I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

²⁹ Devise not ra’ah against thy re’a, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

³⁰ Strive not with adam without cause, if he have done thee no ra’ah.

³¹ Envy thou not the ish chamas, and choose none of his drakhim.

³² For the perverse person is to’avat (detestable) to Hashem; but His sod (secret, intimate counsel) is with the yesharim (upright ones).

³³ The curse of Hashem is in the bais of the rasha; but He puts a bracha on the dwelling of the tzaddikim.

³⁴ Surely He scorneth the scorners; but He giveth chen (grace, favor) unto the anayim (lowly, humble ones).

³⁵ The chachamim shall inherit kavod, but shame shall be the promotion of kesilim (fools).