Beginning
4 Hear, O children, the instruction of a father. And give ear to learn understanding.
2 For I do give you a good doctrine. Therefore, do not forsake my law.
3 For I was my father’s son, tender and dear in the sight of my mother,
4 when he taught me, and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words. Keep my commandments, and you shall live.
5 “Get wisdom. Get understanding. Neither forget nor decline from the words of my mouth.
6 “Do not forsake her, and she shall keep you. Love her and she shall preserve you.
7 “Wisdom is the beginning. Therefore, get wisdom. And above all your possessions, get understanding.
8 “Exalt her, and she shall exalt you. She shall bring you to honor, if you embrace her.
9 “She shall give a comely ornament to your head. Indeed, she shall give you a crown of glory.
10 “Hear, my son, and receive my words. And the years of your life shall be many.
11 “I have taught you in the way of wisdom and led you in the paths of righteousness.
12 “When you go, your gait shall not be distressed. And when you run, you shall not fall.
13 “Take hold of instruction, and do not let go. Keep her, for she is your life.
14 “Do not enter into the way of the wicked. And do not walk in the way of evil.
15 “Avoid it. Do not go by it. Turn from it, and pass by.
16 “For they cannot sleep unless they have done evil. And their sleep departs unless they cause some to fall.
17 “For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
18 “But the way of the righteous shines, as the light that shines more and more until the perfect Day.
19 “The way of the wicked is as the darkness. They do not know wherein they shall fall.
20 “My son, listen to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings.
21 “Do not let them depart from your eyes. But keep them in the midst of your heart.
22 “For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 “Keep your heart with all diligence. For out of it comes life.
24 “Put away from you a perverse mouth. And put wicked lips far from you.
25 “Let your eyes behold the right. And let your eyelids direct your way before you.
26 “Ponder the path of your feet. And let all your ways be ordered aright.
27 “Do not turn to the right hand or to the left. Remove your foot from evil.”
5 My son, hearken to my wisdom. Incline your ear to my knowledge,
2 that you may regard counsel and your lips observe knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb. And her mouth is more soft than oil.
4 But the end of her is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on Hell.
6 She does not weigh the way of life. Her paths are moveable. You cannot know them.
7 Hear me now, therefore, O children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her and do not come near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel;
10 lest the stranger should be filled with your strength and your labors be in the house of a stranger.
11 And you mourn at your end (when you have consumed your flesh and your body)
12 and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction;
13 “and have not obeyed the voice of those who taught me, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me?!
14 “I was almost brought into all evil in the midst of the Congregation and assembly.”
15 Drink the water of your cistern, and of the rivers out of the midst of your own well.
16 Let your fountains flow forth, and the rivers of waters in the streets.
17 But let them be yours—and yours only—and not the strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed. And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 Let her be as the loving deer and pleasant roe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Delight in her love continually.
20 For why should you delight, my son, in a strange woman; or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD. And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, himself, and he shall be seized with the cords of his own sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction, and shall go astray through his great folly.
6 My son, if you are a guarantor for your neighbor, and have shaken hands with the stranger,
2 you are snared with the words of your mouth. You are taken with the words of your own mouth.
3 Do this now, my Son, and deliver yourself. Seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go and humble yourself and solicit your friends.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Deliver yourself as a doe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard! Consider her ways, and be wise.
7 For she, having no guide, governor, or ruler,
8 prepares her food in the summer and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of the sleep?
10 A little sleep. A little slumber. A little folding of the hands to sleep.
11 Therefore, your poverty comes as one who travels by the way; and your need like an armed man.
12 The unthrifty and the wicked walk with a crooked mouth.
13 He makes a sign with his eyes. He signifies with his feet. He instructs with his fingers.
14 Lewd things are in his heart. He imagines evil at all times and raises up contentions.
15 Therefore, his destruction shall come speedily. He shall be destroyed suddenly, without recovery.
16 These six things the LORD hates — indeed, his soul abhors seven —
17 the haughty eyes, a lying tongue, the hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that imagines wicked enterprises, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
19 a false witness that speaks lies, and he who raises up contentions among brothers.
20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them always upon your heart. Tie them around your neck.
22 It shall lead you when you walk. It shall watch for you when you sleep. When you wake, it shall talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a lantern; and instruction a light. And corrections for instruction are the way of life
24 to keep you from the wicked woman and from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her take you with her eye lids.
26 For because of the whorish woman, a man is brought to a morsel of bread. And a woman will hunt for the precious life of a man.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt?
28 Or can one go upon coals, and his feet not be burnt?
29 So he who goes into his neighbor’s wife, shall not be innocent, whoever touches her.
30 A thief is not despised when he steals to satisfy his soul because he is hungry.
31 But if he is found, he shall restore sevenfold. Or he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman is destitute of understanding. He who does so destroys his own soul.
33 He shall find a wound and dishonor. And his reproach shall never be put away.
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man. Therefore, he will not spare on the day of vengeance.
35 He cannot bear the sight of any ransom, nor will he consent, though you augment the gifts.
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