For they are a garland of grace on your head,
And chains and ornaments [of gold] around your neck.

If they say, “Come with us;
Let us lie in wait to shed blood,
Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

Throw in your lot with us [they insist];
We will all have one money bag [in common],”

For their feet run to evil,
And they hurry to shed blood.

But [when these people set a trap for others] they lie in wait for their own blood;
They set an ambush for their own lives [and rush to their destruction].

“Then they will call upon me (Wisdom), but I will not answer;
They will seek me eagerly but they will not find me,

Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord [that is, obeying Him with reverence and awe-filled respect],

“Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own [wicked] way
And be satiated with [the penalty of] their own devices.

None who go to her return again,
Nor do they regain the paths of life—

For length of days and years of life [worth living]
And tranquility and prosperity [the wholeness of life’s blessings] they will add to you.

And they will be life to your soul (your inner self)
And a gracious adornment to your neck (your outer self).

For the wicked cannot sleep unless they do evil;
And they are deprived of sleep unless they make someone stumble and fall.

For they eat the bread of wickedness
And drink the wine of violence.

The way of the wicked is like [deep] darkness;
They do not know over what they stumble.

For they are life to those who find them,
And healing and health to all their flesh.

When you walk about, they (the godly teachings of your parents) will guide you;
When you sleep, they will keep watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.

That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the foreigner [who does not observe God’s laws and] who flatters with her [smooth] words.

“They are all straightforward to him who understands [with an open and willing mind],
And right to those who find knowledge and live by it.

“Stolen waters (pleasures) are sweet [because they are forbidden];
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

The perverse in heart are repulsive and shamefully vile to the Lord,
But those who are blameless and above reproach in their walk are His delight!

Lying lips are extremely disgusting to the Lord,
But those who deal faithfully are His delight.

Desire realized is sweet to the soul;
But it is detestable to fools to turn away from evil [which they have planned].

Do they not go astray who devise evil and wander from the way of righteousness?
But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.

Without consultation and wise advice, plans are frustrated,
But with many counselors they are established and succeed.

Everyone who is proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting and exceedingly offensive to the Lord;
Be assured he will not go unpunished.

The words of a whisperer (gossip) are like dainty morsels [to be greedily eaten];
They go down into the innermost chambers of the body [to be remembered and mused upon].

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.

All the brothers of a poor man hate him;
How much more do his friends abandon him!
He pursues them with words, but they are gone.

The violence of the wicked will [return to them and] drag them away [like fish caught in a net],
Because they refuse to act with justice.

The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,
And the treacherous in the place of the upright [for they fall into their own traps].

A wise man scales the city [walls] of the mighty
And brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

“They struck me, but I was not hurt!
They beat me, but I did not feel it!
When will I wake up?
I will seek more wine.”

But to those [honorable judges] who rebuke the wicked, it will go well with them and they will find delight,
And a good blessing will come upon them.

The words of a whisperer (gossip) are like dainty morsels [to be greedily eaten];
They go down into the innermost chambers of the body [to be remembered and mused upon].

Evil men do not understand justice,
But they who long for and seek the Lord understand it fully.

When the wicked rise [to power], men hide themselves;
But when the wicked perish, the [consistently] righteous increase and become great.

There are four things that are small on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:

The ants are not a strong people,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;

The shephanim are not a mighty folk,
Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

The locusts have no king,
Yet all of them go out in groups;

Otherwise they drink and forget the law and its decrees,
And pervert the rights and justice of all the afflicted.