Châm Ngôn 1

The purpose of the proverbs

¹These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. ²They are for learning wisdom and discipline, \q for grasping words of insight, ³for taking in the training that brings good sense: \q righteousness, justice and fairness, ⁴for making the naive shrewd, \q and giving the young knowledge and the ability to plan wisely. ⁵Let the wise listen and gain still more learning; \q let those with understanding acquire skill to steer their way, ⁶so that they understand proverbs and figures of speech, \q the sayings of the wise and their riddles. ⁷Knowledge begins with the fear of the LORD, \q but fools treat wisdom and discipline with contempt.^a

Refuse the invitation of sinners

⁸My son, listen when your father corrects you, \q and do not let go of what your mother teaches you. ⁹For they will be a lovely wreath on your head \q and ornaments hanging around your neck. ¹⁰My son, if sinners try to lure you, do not go along with them. ¹¹If they say, “Come with us; \q let us lie in wait to shed blood; \q let us set an ambush for the innocent, for no reason; ¹²let us gulp them down alive, as Sheol does, \q whole, like people going down into the pit; ¹³we will come away with riches of every kind \q and pack our houses with what we take; ¹⁴join your lot to ours; \q there will be one purse for all of us,” ¹⁵my son, do not go down that road with them; \q keep your feet off their path. ¹⁶For their feet race toward evil, \q and they are in a hurry to kill.^{b 17}It is useless to spread a net \q in full view of any bird.^{c 18}But it is their own blood they are waiting to shed; \q it is their own lives they ambush. ¹⁹That is how it goes for all who grab at dishonest profit: \q their profit costs them their lives.

Wisdom calls in the streets

²⁰Wisdom shouts out in the street; \q in the open squares she makes her voice heard. ²¹At the busiest corners, above the noise, she calls out; \q at the city gates where people go in and out, \q she makes her speech:^{d 22}“You naive people, how much longer will you love being naive? \q How long will mockers enjoy their mocking, \q and fools hate knowledge? ²³Turn back when I rebuke you, \q and I will pour out my heart to you \q and make my words known to you.^{ef 24}But since I called and you would not come, \q since I held out my hand and no one took notice, ²⁵since you brushed aside all my advice \q and would have no part of my correction, ²⁶so when ruin comes to you, I too will laugh; \q when the thing you dread arrives, I will jeer, ²⁷when terror sweeps over you like a storm \q and ruin like a whirlwind, \q when trouble and hardship close in on you. ²⁸Then they will cry out to me, but I will give no answer; \q they will search hard for me without finding me. ²⁹All this because they hated knowledge, \q and the fear of the LORD was not what they chose. ³⁰They refused my advice \q and treated every correction I gave with contempt. ³¹So they will eat what their own way of life has produced \q and have more than enough of their own schemes. ³²The naive turn away, and it kills them; \q fools feel safe and at ease, and it destroys them. ³³But anyone who listens to me will live securely, \q at rest and free from the fear of harm.”