to know wisdom and instruction; to recognize the words of understanding;

to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and uprightness;

to give sense to the simple, knowledge and judgment to the young man;

to understand a proverb and its meaning; the words of the wise, and their acute sayings.

for they shall be an ornament of grace to your head and chains around your neck.

My son, if sinners lure you, do not be willing.

My son, do not walk in the way with them! Keep back your foot from their path,

for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.

Turn at my warning; behold, I will pour out my Spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

But whoever listens to me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

so that you attend to wisdom, you shall extend your heart to understanding;

He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.

When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasing to your soul;

to deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man who speaks wicked things;

those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perversities of the wicked;

For her house bows down to death, and her paths to the dead.

All who go in to her do not return, nor do they take hold of the paths of life,

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

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; tie them around your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart;

Trust in Jehovah with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear Jehovah and depart from evil.

Healing shall be to your navel and marrow to your bones.

My son, do not despise the chastening of Jehovah; nor be weary with His correction;

she is more precious than rubies; and all the things you can desire are not to be compared with her.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold upon her; and happy is everyone who keeps her.

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

My son, do not let them depart from your eyes; keep sound wisdom and judgment,

and they shall be life to your soul and grace to your neck;

Do not be afraid of sudden fear, nor of the destroying of the wicked, when it comes.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come back again, and tomorrow I will give; when you have it beside you:

Do not plan evil against your neighbor, since he dwells trustingly by you.

Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.

Do not envy the cruel man, and choose none of his ways.

For the crooked man is hateful to Jehovah, but His secret is with the righteous.

Surely He scorns the scorners; but He gives grace to the lowly.

Sons, hear the instruction of a father, and listen in order to know understanding.

For I give you good teaching; do not forsake my law.

He also taught me, and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live.

Do not forsake her, and she shall preserve you; love her, and she shall keep you.

Prize her, and she shall lift you up; she shall bring you to honor when you embrace her.

She shall give to your hand an ornament of grace; she shall shield you with a crown of glory.

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

Avoid it; do not pass by it; turn from it, and pass on!

For they do not sleep, except when they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall.

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

My son, listen to my words; bow down your ear to my sayings.

For they are life to those who find them, and health to all his flesh.

Do not turn to the right hand nor to the left; remove your foot from evil.

My son, listen to my wisdom; bow your ear to my understanding;

in order to keep discretion, that your lips may keep knowledge.

but afterward she is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell,

And now hear me, O sons, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Remove your ways far from her, and do not come near the door of her house,

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

and I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor bowed down my ears to those who taught me!

Like the loving deer and pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and be ravished always with her love.

He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

My son, do this now, and deliver yourself when you have come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself and make your friend sure.

Do not give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

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

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down;

These six Jehovah hates; yea, seven are hateful to his soul:

a heart that plots wicked plans, feet hurrying to run to evil,

My son, keep your father's commandments, and do not forsake the law of your mother;

bind them upon your heart forever, tie them around your neck.

to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Do not lust after her beauty in your heart; nor let her take you with her eyelids.

For by means of a harlot a man comes to a piece of bread; and another man's wife will hunt for the precious life.

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

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

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

Say to wisdom, You are my sister; and call understanding your kinsman,

passing through the street near her corner. And he went the way to her house,

She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay in her house;

And she caught him and kissed him, and with a hard face she said to him,

so I came out to meet you, earnestly to seek your face, and I have found you.

he has taken a bag of silver with him and will come home at the day of the full moon.

With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

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

until a dart strikes through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare and does not know that it is for his soul.

And now listen to me, sons, and attend to the words of my mouth.

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not go astray in her paths.

Her house is the way to hell, going down to the rooms of death.

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

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

They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those who 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 Jehovah is to hate evil; I hate pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the wicked mouth.

I may cause those who love me to inherit riches; and I will fill their treasuries.

when He gave to the sea its limit that the waters should not pass His command; when He appointed the foundations of the earth;

And now listen to me, O sons; for blessed are those who keep my ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it.

The simple one, let him turn in here. To one lacking heart, she says to him,

One rebuking a scorner gets shame to himself; and one rebuking a wicked one gets himself a blemish.

Do not reprove a scorner, lest he hate you; give to a wise man, and he will love you.

Give to a wise one, and he will be still wiser; teach a just one, and he will increase in learning.

to call those who pass by, who are going straight on their ways;