Beginning
A Father’s Lesson: Get Wisdom!
4 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction.
Pay attention, to gain understanding.
2 For I give you sound learning—
do not forsake my instruction.
3 When I was a son to my father,
tender and special to my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me:
“Lay hold of my words in your heart,
keep my commands and you will live!
5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will guard you.
Love her, and she will watch over you.
7 Wisdom is supreme—acquire wisdom!
With all your acquisitions, get understanding.
8 Prize her, and she will exalt you.
She will honor you when you embrace her.
9 She will set a garland of grace on your head.
She will give you a crown of glory.”
Ways of Wisdom and Wickedness
10 Listen, my son, and accept my words,
so the years of your life will be many.
11 I instructed you in the way of wisdom.
I have guided you along straight paths.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hindered,
and when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Hold on tightly to instruction, do not let it go—
guard it, for it is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evil people.
15 Avoid it—do not travel on it—
turn away from it and pass by.
16 For they cannot sleep until they do evil.
They are robbed of sleep until they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining brighter and brighter until the full day.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness.
They do not know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to my words—
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them
and health to their whole body.
23 Guard your heart diligently,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away perversity from your mouth,
and keep devious lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly ahead,
and fix your gaze straight in front of you.
26 Clear a level path for your feet,
so all your ways will be firm.
27 Do not turn to the right or to the left.
Divert your foot from evil.
Beware Seduction
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Incline your ear to my insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For a seducing woman’s lips drip honey
and her mouth is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
her steps lead straight to Sheol.
6 She does not keep straight to the path of life,
her paths are crooked
—but she does not know it.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me
and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your path far from her
and do not go near the door of her house—
9 lest you give your strength to others
and your years to one who is cruel;
10 lest strangers feast on your strength,
your labors go to a foreigner’s house.
11 At the end of your life, you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent—
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned reproof!
13 I would not listen to my teacher’s voice
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I was almost in utter ruin amid
the community and congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs flow in the streets,
your streams of water in public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone
and not shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed
and may you delight in the wife of your youth.
19 A lovely hind, a graceful doe—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you always be captivated by her love.
20 Why, my son, be captivated by a seducing woman?
Why embrace a foreigner’s bosom?
21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of Adonai,
and He observes all his paths.
22 The iniquities of a wicked man will ensnare him.
The cords of his sin will hold him down.
23 He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.
Economic Entanglements
6 My son, if you have become a cosigner for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge with a stranger,
2 if you are trapped by your own words,
ensnared by the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and free yourself,
since you fell into your neighbor’s hand:
Go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbor!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Escape like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Laziness and Perversity
6 Go to the ant, you slacker—
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler.
8 Yet it prepares its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 and your poverty comes like a bandit
and your need like an armed man.
12 A scoundrel, a wicked man,
is one who goes around with a perverse mouth,
13 winking his eyes, shuffling his feet, pointing his fingers,
14 who continually plots evil
with deceit in his heart stirring up strife.
15 Therefore his disaster will come suddenly
—in an instant he will be broken, with no remedy.
16 Six things Adonai hates,
yes, seven are abominations to Him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet that run to evil,
19 a false witness who spouts lies,
and one who stirs up strife among brothers.
A Father’s Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s mitzvah,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them on your heart continually—
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you.
When you lie down, they will watch over you,
and when you wake up, they will speak to you.
23 For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah a light,
and corrective discipline the way of life,
24 keeping you from the immoral woman,
from a wayward wife’s smooth tongue.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyelids.
26 For on account of a prostitute one is reduced to a loaf of bread;
a man’s wife preys on your precious life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without burning his clothes?
28 Or can a man walk upon hot coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So is he who goes to another man’s wife.
No one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy himself when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must repay sevenfold,
giving up all the wealth of his house.
32 He who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense.
Whoever does so destroys himself.
33 He will find disease and disgrace.
His shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy enrages a man
and he will show no mercy in the day of revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation,
he will not consent,
even if your bribe is great.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.