Proverbs 1

^{Proverbs 1:1} These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,

^{Proverbs 1:2} for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,

^{Proverbs 1:3} and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.

^{Proverbs 1:4} To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young,

^{Proverbs 1:5} let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel

^{Proverbs 1:6} by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

^{Proverbs 1:7} The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

^{Proverbs 1:8} Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.

^{Proverbs 1:9} For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.

^{Proverbs 1:10} My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

^{Proverbs 1:11} If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

^{Proverbs 1:12} let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.

^{Proverbs 1:13} We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.

^{Proverbs 1:14} Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”—

^{Proverbs 1:15} my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.

^{Proverbs 1:16} For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

^{Proverbs 1:17} How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!

^{Proverbs 1:18} But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.

^{Proverbs 1:19} Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

^{Proverbs 1:20} Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;

^{Proverbs 1:21} in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:

^{Proverbs 1:22} “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

^{Proverbs 1:23} If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.

^{Proverbs 1:24} Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,

^{Proverbs 1:25} because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,

^{Proverbs 1:26} in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,

^{Proverbs 1:27} when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

^{Proverbs 1:28} Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

^{Proverbs 1:29} For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.

^{Proverbs 1:30} They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.

^{Proverbs 1:31} So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

^{Proverbs 1:32} For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

^{Proverbs 1:33} But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”