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1:1 Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: 1:2 For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence, 1:3 For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness, 1:4 For giving to simple ones -- prudence, To a youth -- knowledge and discretion. 1:5 (The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.) 1:6 For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings. 1:7 Fear of Jehovah [is] a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised! 1:8 Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother, 1:9 For a graceful wreath [are] they to thy head, And chains to thy neck. 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing. 1:11 If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause, 1:12 We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down [to] the pit, 1:13 Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses [with] spoil, 1:14 Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.' 1:15 My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path, 1:16 For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood. 1:17 Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird. 1:18 And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives. 1:19 So [are] the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh. 1:20 Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice, 1:21 At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith: 1:22 `Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge? 1:23 Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you. 1:24 Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending, 1:25 And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired. 1:26 I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh, 1:27 When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress. 1:28 Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not. 1:29 Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen. 1:30 They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof, 1:31 And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled. 1:32 For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them. 1:33 And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And [is] quiet from fear of evil!'