My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother:

For they shall be an ornament of grace unto your head, and chains about your neck.

We shall find all kinds of precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

Cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse:

My son, walk not in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path:

So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of its owners.

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes;

When your terror comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you.

So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;

When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;

Whose ways are crooked, and who are perverse in their paths:

My son, forget not my law; but let your heart keep my commandments:

Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them about your neck; write them upon the table of your heart:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

It shall be health to your body, and strength to your bones.

Honor the LORD with your substance, and with the firstfruits of all your increase:

So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine.

She is more precious than rubies: and all the things you can desire are not to be compared unto her.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

My son, let not them depart from your eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

So shall they be life unto your soul, and grace to your neck.

Then shall you walk in your way safely, and your foot shall not stumble.

When you lie down, you shall not be afraid: yea, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet.

For the LORD shall be your confidence, and shall keep your foot from being snared.

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

Say not unto your neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when you have it with you.

Devise not evil against your neighbor, seeing he dwells securely by you.

He taught me also, and said unto me, Let your heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding.

She shall give to your head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to you.

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of your life shall be many.

When you go, your steps shall not be hindered; and when you run, you shall not stumble.

Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is your life.

My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings.

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

For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Let your eyes look directly forward, and let your eyelids look straight before you.

Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil.

My son, be attentive to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my understanding:

That you may preserve discretion, and that your lips may keep knowledge.

Lest you should ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable, that you can not know them.

Remove your way far from her, and come not near the door of her house:

Lest you give your honor unto others, and your years unto the merciless:

Lest strangers be filled with your wealth; and your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

And you mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me!

Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.

Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets?

Let them be only for your own, and not for strangers with you.

Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.

My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have struck your hand with a stranger,

You are snared with the words of your mouth, you are taken with the words of your mouth.

Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, when you have come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself, and plead with your friend.

Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

Who having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

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

So shall your poverty come upon you like a vagabond, and your want like an armed man.

These six things does the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to evil,

My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not the law of your mother:

Bind them continually upon your heart, and tie them about your neck.

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

Lust not after her beauty in your heart; neither let her allure you with her eyelids.

Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye.

Bind them upon your fingers, write them upon the table of your heart.

Say unto wisdom, you are my sister; and call understanding your kinswoman:

Therefore came I forth to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you.

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us delight ourselves with love.

He goes after her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

Till an arrow strikes through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, and knows not that it is for his life.

Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, go not astray in her paths.

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

They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge.

For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.

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

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Now therefore hearken unto me, O you children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.

For by me your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased.

If you are wise, you shall be wise for yourself: but if you scoff, you alone shall bear it.

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

But he knows not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

They that are of a perverse heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.

The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.

The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.

A righteous man regards the life of his animal: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.

The slothful man roasts not that which he took in hunting: but the possessions of a diligent man are precious.

The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but the poor hears not rebuke.