1. Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2. For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,
3. For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,
4. For giving to simple ones--prudence, To a youth--knowledge and discretion.
5. (The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)
6. For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.
7. Fear of Jehovah [is] a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!
8. Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,
9. For a graceful wreath [are] they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.
10. My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.
11. If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,
12. We swallow them as Sheol--alive, And whole--as those going down [to] the pit,
13. Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses [with] spoil,
14. Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is--to all of us.'
15. My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,