Beginning
4 1 Wisdom and her fruits ought to be searched. 14 The way of the wicked must be refused. 20 By the word of God the heart, eyes, and course of life must be guided.
1 Hear, O ye children, the instruction of a [a]father, and give ear to learn understanding.
2 For I do give you a good doctrine: therefore forsake ye not my law.
3 For I was my father’s son, tender and dear in the sight of my mother,
4 When he [b]taught me, and said unto me, Let thine heart hold fast my words: keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.
5 Get wisdom: get understanding: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her and she shall preserve thee.
7 [c]Wisdom is the beginning: get wisdom therefore: and above all thy possession get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she shall exalt thee: she shall bring thee to honor, if thou embrace her.
9 She shall give a comely ornament unto thine head, yea, she shall give thee a crown of glory.
10 ¶ Hear, my son: and receive my words, and the years of thy life shall be many.
11 I have [d]taught thee in the way of wisdom, and led thee in the paths of righteousness.
12 When thou goest, thy gait shall not be [e]strait, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not fall.
13 Take hold of instruction, and leave not: keep her, for she is thy life.
14 ¶ Enter not into the way of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, and go not by it: turn from it, and pass by.
16 For they cannot [f]sleep, except they have done evil, and their sleep departeth except they cause some to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of [g]wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the way of the righteous shineth as the light, that [h]shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as the darkness: they know not wherein they shall fall.
20 ¶ My son, hearken unto my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes, but keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them: and health unto all their [i]flesh.
23 Keep thine heart with all diligence: for thereout cometh [j]life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and put wicked lips far from thee.
25 Let thine eyes behold the right, and let thine eyelids direct thy way before thee.
26 [k]Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be ordered aright.
27 Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left, but remove thy foot from evil.
5 3 Whoredom is forbidden, 9 And prodigality. 15 He willeth a man to live on his labors and to help others, 18 To love his wife. 22 The wicked taken in their own wickedness.
1 My son, hearken unto my wisdom, and incline thine ear unto my [l]knowledge,
2 That thou mayest regard counsel, and thy lips observe knowledge.
3 For the lips [m]of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is more soft than [n]oil.
4 But the end of her is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her [o]feet go down to death, and her steps take hold on hell.
6 She weigheth not the way of life: [p]her paths are moveable: thou canst not know them.
7 Hear ye me now therefore, O children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep thy way far from her, and come not near the door of her house,
9 Lest thou give thine [q]honor unto others, and thy years to the cruel:
10 Lest the stranger should be filled with thy strength, and thy [r]labors be in the house of a stranger,
11 And thou mourn at thine end, (when thou hast consumed thy flesh and thy body)
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and mine heart despised correction!
13 And have not obeyed the voice of them that taught me, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was almost brought into all evil in the midst of the Congregation and [s]assembly.
15 ¶ Drink the water of [t]thy cistern, and of the rivers out of the midst of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains flow forth, and the rivers of waters in the streets.
17 But let them be thine, even [u]thine only, and not the strangers with thee.
18 Let thy [v]fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy [w]youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe: let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and delight in her love continually.
20 For why shouldest thou [x]delight, my son, in a strange woman, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the [y]eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sin.
23 He shall [z]die for fault of instruction, and shall go astray through his great folly.
6 1 Instruction for sureties. 6 The slothful and sluggish is stirred to work. 12 He describeth the nature of the wicked. 16 The things that God hateth. 20 To observe the word of God. 24 To flee adultery.
1 My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbor, and hast stricken hands with the stranger,
2 Thou art [aa]snared with the words of thy mouth: thou art even taken with the words of thine own mouth.
3 Do this now, my Son, and deliver thyself: seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor, go, and humble thyself, and solicit thy friends.
4 Give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
5 Deliver thyself as a Doe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 ¶ Go to [ab]the pismire, O sluggard: behold her ways, and be wise.
7 For she having no guide, governor, nor ruler,
8 Prepareth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of the sleep?
10 (A)Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, [ac]a little folding of the hands to sleep.
11 Therefore thy poverty cometh as one that [ad]traveleth by the way, and thy necessity like [ae]an armed man.
12 The unthrifty man [af]and the wicked man walketh with a froward mouth.
13 He maketh a sign with his eyes: he [ag]signifieth with his feet: he [ah]instructeth with his fingers.
14 Lewd things are in his heart: he imagineth evil at all times, and raiseth up contentions.
15 Therefore shall his destruction come speedily: he shall be destroyed suddenly without recovery.
16 ¶ These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, his soul abhorreth seven:
17 The haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and the hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that imagineth wicked enterprises, [ai]feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that raiseth up contentions among [aj]brethren.
20 ¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not thy mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them always upon thine [ak]heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22 It shall lead thee when thou walkest: it shall watch for thee when thou sleepest, and when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee.
23 For the [al]commandment is a lantern, and instruction a light: and [am]corrections for instruction are the way of life,
24 To keep thee from the wicked woman, and from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Desire not her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her [an]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 [ao]Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt?
28 Or can a man go upon coals, and his feet not be burnt?
29 So he that goeth into his neighbor’s wife, shall not be innocent, whosoever toucheth her.
30 Men do not [ap]despise a thief, when he stealeth to satisfy his [aq]soul, because he is hungry.
31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold, or he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But he that commiteth adultery with a woman, he [ar]is destitute of understanding: he that doeth it, destroyeth his own soul.
33 He shall find [as]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 [at]spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He cannot bear the sight of any ransom: neither will he consent, though thou augment the gifts.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.