“How long, O naive ones [you who are easily misled], will you love being simple-minded and undiscerning?
How long will scoffers [who ridicule and deride] delight in scoffing,
How long will fools [who obstinately mock truth] hate knowledge?

And you say, “How I hated instruction and discipline,
And my heart despised correction and reproof!

How long will you lie down, O lazy one?
When will you arise from your sleep [and learn self-discipline]?

If the righteous will be rewarded on the earth [with godly blessings],
How much more [will] the wicked and the sinner [be repaid with punishment]!

Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the abyss, the place of eternal punishment) lie open before the Lord—
How much more the hearts and inner motives of the children of men.

A man has joy in giving an appropriate answer,
And how good and delightful is a word spoken at the right moment—how good it is!

The heart of the righteous thinks carefully about how to answer [in a wise and appropriate and timely way],
But the [babbling] mouth of the wicked pours out malevolent things.

How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.

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.

Man’s steps are ordered and ordained by the Lord.
How then can a man [fully] understand his way?

The righteous one keeps an eye on the house of the wicked—
How the wicked are cast down to ruin.

The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable and offensive [to the Lord].
How much more [unacceptable and insulting can it be] when he brings it with evil intention?

There is a generation (class of people)—oh, how lofty are their eyes!
And their eyelids are raised in arrogance.

She looks well to how things go in her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.