Chronological
7 ¶ My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman:
5 That they may keep thee from the woman belonging to someone else, from the stranger who flatters with her words.
6 ¶ For at the window of my house I looked through my casement
7 and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
8 passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night;
10 and, behold, a woman met him with the attire of a harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not abide in her house:
12 Now without, now in the streets, she lies in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I had promised sacrifices of peace; today I have paid my vows.
15 Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the husband is not at home; he is gone a long journey:
20 He has taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the appointed feast day.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield; with the flattering of her lips she persuaded him.
22 He went after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23 until the arrow pierces through his liver. He is as a bird struggling in the snare and not knowing that it is against his own life.
24 ¶ Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye sons, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways; do not go astray in her paths.
26 For she has caused many to fall down dead; yea, all the strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
8 ¶ Doth not wisdom cry, and give her voice to intelligence?
2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way at the crossroads of the paths.
3 She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O ye simple, understand prudence; and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing perverse or twisted in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understands and right to those that have found wisdom.
10 Receive my chastening and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than precious stones; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 ¶ I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I invent the knowledge of giving counsel.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride, arrogancy, the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.
14 With me is counsel, and existence; I am understanding; strength belongs to me.
15 By me the kings reign, and the princes decree justice.
16 By me the princes rule, and all of the governors judge the earth.
17 I love those that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than precious stones, and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I shall lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21 that I may cause my friends to inherit existence and I will fill their treasures.
22 ¶ The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up with eternal dominion, from the beginning, before the earth was.
24 I was begotten before the depths, before the existence of the fountains of many waters.
25 Before the mountains were founded, before the hills was I begotten.
26 While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the beginning of the dust of the world,
27 when he composed the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth,
28 when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
30 I was with him ordering everything; I was his delight every day, being content before him at all times;
31 I am content in the circumference of his earth, and my contentment is with the sons of men.
32 ¶ Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye sons; for blessed are those that keep my ways.
33 Hearken unto chastening, and be wise; refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that hears me, keeping vigil at my gates, waiting at the threshold of my doors.
35 For whosoever finds me shall find life and shall obtain the will of the LORD.
36 But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those that hate me love death.
9 ¶ Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out her seven pillars:
2 She has killed her sacrifice; she has mingled her wine; and she has furnished her table.
3 She has sent forth her maidens; she cries upon the highest places of the city,
4 whosoever is simple, let him turn in here; as for those that lack understanding, {Heb. lacking of heart} she saith unto him,
5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
6 Forsake that which is foolish and live and go in the way of understanding.
7 He that chastens a scorner brings shame unto himself, and he that chastens a wicked man brings himself a blot.
8 Chasten not a scorner lest he hate thee; chasten a wise man, and he will love thee.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
13 ¶ A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city
15 to call to those who pass by the way, to those who straighten their ways;
16 Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here; and as for him that lacks understanding, she saith unto him:
17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
18 But he does not know that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
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