Proverbs - Chapter 1 | New King James Version

  • 1. The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
  • 2. To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding,
  • 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity;
  • 4. To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion--
  • 5. A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
  • 6. To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.
  • 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
  • 8. My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;
  • 9. For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.
  • 10. My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.
  • 11. If they say, "Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
  • 12. Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, {cf2super [1]} And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
  • 13. We shall find all kinds of precious possessions, We shall fill our houses with spoil;
  • 14. Cast in your lot among us, Let us all have one purse"--
  • 15. My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;
  • 16. For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.
  • 17. Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird;
  • 18. But they lie in wait for their own blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives.
  • 19. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.
  • 20. Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
  • 21. She cries out in the chief concourses, {cf2super [2]} At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:
  • 22. "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
  • 23. Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
  • 24. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
  • 25. Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
  • 26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
  • 27. When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
  • 28. "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
  • 29. Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
  • 30. They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.
  • 31. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
  • 32. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
  • 33. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil."
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