to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;

that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel:

If they say, "Come with us, Let's lay in wait for blood; let's lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

You shall cast your lot among us. We'll all have one purse."

My son, don't walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path,

For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:

but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.

"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

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

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

I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;

when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.

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

Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

Don't let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor.

Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won't stumble.

When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

Don't be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes:

Don't withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

Don't say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you," when you have it by you.

For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.

Yahweh's curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.

I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.

Don't enter into the path of the wicked. Don't walk in the way of evil men.

Avoid it, and don't pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.

For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.

You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."

Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

Don't lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

Men don't despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance.

He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

She is loud and defiant. Her feet don't stay in her house.

Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

Don't let your heart turn to her ways. Don't go astray in her paths,

On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

You simple, understand prudence. You fools, be of an understanding heart.

For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice;

"Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth;

When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;

Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death."

She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table.

"Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

"Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!

Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding."

Instruct a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,