To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

To give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their riddles.

For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

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

He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a shield to them that walk uprightly.

To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks perverse things;

Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

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

To deliver you from the immoral woman, even from the seductress who flatters with her words;

For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to you.

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

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

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is everyone that retains her.

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

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

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

For the perverse is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

Hear, you children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

Exalt her, and she shall promote you: she shall bring you to honor, when you do embrace her.

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

For they sleep not, unless they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause someone to fall.

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.

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

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

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:

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on sheol.

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

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

Let her be as the loving deer and graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be ravished always with her love.

He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

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.

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

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

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

To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a seductress.

For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

So is he that goes in to his neighbor's wife; whosoever touches her shall not be innocent.

Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

For jealousy causes the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows.

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

He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.

With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she seduced him.

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.

Hearken unto me now therefore, O you children, and attend to the words of my mouth.

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

Her house is the way to sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.

For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

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.

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.

That I may cause those that love me to inherit wealth; and I will fill their treasuries.

When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his command: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here: as for him that lacks understanding, she says to him,

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

To call those who pass by who go right on their ways:

Whosoever is simple, let him turn in here: and as for him that lacks understanding, she says to him,

The LORD will not allow the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casts away the desire of the wicked.

The labor of the righteous leads to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.

The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for lack of wisdom.

It is as sport to a fool to do wrong: but a man of understanding has wisdom.

As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death.

The merciful man does good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubles his own flesh.

The wicked works a deceitful work: but to him that sows righteousness shall be a sure reward.

As righteousness leads to life: so he that pursues evil pursues it to his own death.

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

Though they join hand to hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the descendants of the righteous shall be delivered.

There is one that scatters, and yet increases; and there is one that withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.

He that troubles his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that makes ashamed is like rottenness in his bones.

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

A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.

Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counselors of peace there is joy.

There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with trouble.

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

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be put to forced labor.

A righteous man hates lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame.

The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction: but he that regards reproof shall be honored.

The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.

Evil pursues sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repaid.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children: but the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall go hungry.

The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.

In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalts folly.