To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour:

Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death;

Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:

Such is the fate of everyone who goes in search of profit; it takes away the life of its owners.

Wisdom is crying out in the street; her voice is loud in the open places;

Her words are sounding in the meeting-places, and in the doorways of the town:

How long, you simple ones, will foolish things be dear to you? and pride a delight to the haters of authority? how long will the foolish go on hating knowledge?

Be turned again by my sharp words: see, I will send the flow of my spirit on you, and make my words clear to you.

Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;

So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear;

When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you.

But whoever gives ear to me will take his rest safely, living in peace without fear of evil.

My son, if you will take my words to your heart, storing up my laws in your mind;

He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil;

He keeps watch on the ways which are right, and takes care of those who have the fear of him.

Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner;

Who is false to the husband of her early years, and does not keep the agreement of her God in mind:

For her house is on the way down to death; her footsteps go down to the shades:

Those who go to her do not come back again; their feet do not keep in the ways of life:

So that you may go in the way of good men, and keep in the footsteps of the upright.

For the upright will be living in the land, and the good will have it for their heritage.

My son, keep my teaching in your memory, and my rules in your heart:

Let not mercy and good faith go from you; let them be hanging round your neck, recorded on your heart;

So you will have grace and a good name in the eyes of God and men.

Put all your hope in God, not looking to your reason for support.

In all your ways give ear to him, and he will make straight your footsteps.

Put no high value on your wisdom: let the fear of the Lord be before you, and keep yourself from evil:

So your store-houses will be full of grain, and your vessels overflowing with new wine.

For to those who are dear to him the Lord says sharp words, and makes the son in whom he has delight undergo pain.

For trading in it is better than trading in silver, and its profit greater than bright gold.

She is of more value than jewels, and nothing for which you may have a desire is fair in comparison with her.

Long life is in her right hand, and in her left are wealth and honour.

She is a tree of life to all who take her in their hands, and happy is everyone who keeps her.

The Lord by wisdom put in position the bases of the earth; by reason he put the heavens in their place.

Then you will go safely on your way, and your feet will have no cause for slipping.

When you take your rest you will have no fear, and on your bed sleep will be sweet to you.

Have no fear of sudden danger, or of the storm which will come on evil-doers:

For the Lord will be your hope, and will keep your foot from being taken in the net.

Do not keep back good from those who have a right to it, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

Say not to your neighbour, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when you have it by you at the time.

Do not make evil designs against your neighbour, when he is living with you without fear.

Have no envy of the violent man, or take any of his ways as an example.

The curse of the Lord is on the house of the evil-doer, but his blessing is on the tent of the upright.

For I was a son to my father, a gentle and an only one to my mother.

And he gave me teaching, saying to me, Keep my words in your heart; keep my rules so that you may have life:

Get wisdom, get true knowledge; keep it in memory, do not be turned away from the words of my mouth.

Put her in a high place, and you will be lifted up by her; she will give you honour, when you give her your love.

She will put a crown of grace on your head, giving you a head-dress of glory.

I have given you teaching in the way of wisdom, guiding your steps in the straight way.

When you go, your way will not be narrow, and in running you will not have a fall.

Take learning in your hands, do not let her go: keep her, for she is your life.

Do not go in the road of sinners, or be walking in the way of evil men.

Keep far from it, do not go near; be turned from it, and go on your way.

The bread of evil-doing is their food, the wine of violent acts their drink.

Let them not go from your eyes; keep them deep in your heart.

Put away from you an evil tongue, and let false lips be far from you.

Keep your eyes on what is in front of you, looking straight before you.

Keep a watch on your behaviour; let all your ways be rightly ordered.

She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.

And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;

And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;

I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.

Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.

Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.

Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?

For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.

The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.

You are taken as in a net by the words of your mouth, the sayings of your lips have overcome you.

She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.

How long will you be sleeping, O hater of work? when will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep:

Then loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man

A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;

A heart full of evil designs, feet which are quick in running after sin;

A false witness, breathing out untrue words, and one who lets loose violent acts among brothers.

My son, keep the rule of your father, and have in memory the teaching of your mother:

Keep them ever folded in your heart, and have them hanging round your neck.

In your walking, it will be your guide; when you are sleeping, it will keep watch over you; when you are awake, it will have talk with you.

For a loose woman is looking for a cake of bread, but another man's wife goes after one's very life.

Or may one go on lighted coals, and his feet not be burned?

So it is with him who goes in to his neighbour's wife; he who has anything to do with her will not go free from punishment.

Men do not have a low opinion of a thief who takes food when he is in need of it:

But if he is taken in the act he will have to give back seven times as much, giving up all his property which is in his house.

For bitter is the wrath of an angry husband; in the day of punishment he will have no mercy.

Let them be fixed to your fingers, and recorded in your heart.

I saw among the young men one without sense,

Walking in the street near the turn of her road, going on the way to her house,

At nightfall, in the evening of the day, in the black dark of the night.

And the woman came out to him, in the dress of a loose woman, with a designing heart;

She is full of noise and uncontrolled; her feet keep not in her house.

Now she is in the street, now in the open spaces, waiting at every turning of the road.

So I came out in the hope of meeting you, looking for you with care, and now I have you.

Come, let us take our pleasure in love till the morning, having joy in love's delights.

For the master of the house is away on a long journey:

The simple man goes after her, like an ox going to its death, like a roe pulled by a cord;

Like a bird falling into a net; with no thought that his life is in danger, till an arrow goes into his side.

Let not your heart be turned to her ways, do not go wandering in her footsteps.

For those wounded and made low by her are great in number; and all those who have come to their death through her are a great army.

Become expert in reason, O you simple ones; you foolish ones, take training to heart.

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