The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice and equity;

To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,

To understand a proverb and a figure,
The words of the wise and their riddles.

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction
And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;

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

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,
Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;

We will find all kinds of precious wealth,
We will fill our houses with spoil;

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

My son, do not walk in the way with them.
Keep your feet from their path,

Throw in your lot with us,
We shall all have one purse,”

But they lie in wait for their own blood;
They ambush their own lives.

Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net
In the sight of any bird;

For their feet run to evil
And they hasten to shed blood.

“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools hate knowledge?

“Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.

At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence;
It takes away the life of its possessors.

“Because I called and you refused,
I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,

And you neglected all my counsel
And did not want my reproof;

I will also laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,

“So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
And be satiated with their own devices.

Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord.

When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.

“They would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.

“But he who listens to me shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

“For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head
And ornaments about your neck.

Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;

To know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of understanding,

My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent.

A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,