So you will walk in the way of good men [that is, those of personal integrity, moral courage and honorable character],
And keep to the paths of the righteous.

My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;

My son, do not reject or take lightly the discipline of the Lord [learn from your mistakes and the testing that comes from His correction through discipline];
Nor despise His rebuke,

My son, let them not escape from your sight,
But keep sound wisdom and discretion,

Hear, O children, the instruction of a father,
And pay attention [and be willing to learn] so that you may gain understanding and intelligent discernment.

For I give you good doctrine;
Do not turn away from my instruction.

When I was a son with my father (David),
Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother (Bathsheba),

He taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
Keep my commandments and live.

“Get [skillful and godly] wisdom! Acquire understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation]!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Hear, my son, and accept my sayings,
And the years of your life will be many.

My son, pay attention to my words and be willing to learn;
Open your ears to my sayings.

My son, be attentive to my wisdom [godly wisdom learned by costly experience],
Incline your ear to my understanding;

That you may exercise discrimination and discretion (good judgment),
And your lips may reserve knowledge and answer wisely [to temptation].

Now then, my sons, listen to me
And do not depart from (forget) the words of my mouth.

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

“I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,
Nor have I inclined my ear to those who instructed me.

“I was almost in total ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

Why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an immoral woman
And embrace the bosom of an outsider (pagan)?

My son, if you have become surety (guaranteed a debt or obligation) for your neighbor,
If you have given your pledge for [the debt of] a stranger or another [outside your family],

Do this now, my son, and release yourself [from the obligation];
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor [to pay his debt and release you].

My son, be guided by your father’s [God-given] commandment (instruction)
And do not reject the teaching of your mother;

My son, keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you [so they are readily available to guide you].

Keep my commandments and live,
And keep my teaching and law as the apple of your eye.

Say to [skillful and godly] wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And regard understanding and intelligent insight as your intimate friends;

That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the foreigner [who does not observe God’s laws and] who flatters with her [smooth] words.

For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice.

“I have peace offerings with me;
Today I have paid my vows.

“So I came out to meet you [that you might share with me the feast of my offering],
Diligently I sought your face and I have found you.

“I have spread my couch with coverings and cushions of tapestry,
With colored fine linen of Egypt.

“I have perfumed my bed
With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.

“To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is directed to the sons of men.

“Listen, for I will speak excellent and noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.

“For my mouth will utter truth,
And wickedness is repulsive and loathsome to my lips.

“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness (upright, in right standing with God);
There is nothing contrary to truth or perverted (crooked) in them.

“Take my instruction rather than [seeking] silver,
And take knowledge rather than choicest gold,

“For wisdom is better than rubies;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

“I, [godly] wisdom, reside with prudence [good judgment, moral courage and astute common sense],
And I find knowledge and discretion.

“By me kings reign
And rulers decide and decree justice.

“By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge and govern rightly.

“I love those who love me;
And those who seek me early and diligently will find me.

“Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness (right standing with God).

“My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield is better than choicest silver.

That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth and true riches,
And that I may fill their treasuries.

“The Lord created and possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old [were accomplished].

“Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed [happy, prosperous, to be admired] are they who keep my ways.

“Blessed [happy, prosperous, to be admired] is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.

“For whoever finds me (Wisdom) finds life
And obtains favor and grace from the Lord.

“But he who fails to find me or sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love and court death.”

“Come, eat my food
And drink the wine I have mixed [and accept my gifts].

For by me (wisdom from God) your days will be multiplied,
And years of life shall be increased.

The teaching of the wise is a fountain and source of life,
So that one may avoid the snares of death.

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that leads to obedience and worship] is a fountain of life,
So that one may avoid the snares of death.

The [chosen] path of life leads upward for the wise,
That he may keep away from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) below.

Listen to counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction,
That you may be wise in the time to come.

Cease listening, my son, to instruction and discipline
And you will stray from the words of knowledge.

Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart,
I am pure from my sin?”

Haughty and arrogant eyes and a proud heart,
The lamp of the wicked [their self-centered pride], is sin [in the eyes of God].

Listen carefully and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your mind to my knowledge;

So that your trust and reliance and confidence may be in the Lord,
I have taught these things to you today, even to you.

To let you know the certainty of the words of truth,
That you may give a correct answer to him who sent you?

My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will also be glad;

Yes, my heart will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.

Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way [of the Lord].

My son, give me your heart
And let your eyes delight in my ways,

“They struck me, but I was not hurt!
They beat me, but I did not feel it!
When will I wake up?
I will seek more wine.”

My son, eat honey, because it is good,
And the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

My son, fear the Lord and the king;
And do not associate with those who are given to change [of allegiance, and are revolutionary],

Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will pay the man back for his deed.”

Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring.

My son, be wise, and make my heart glad,
That I may reply to him who reproaches (reprimands, criticizes) me.

Surely I am more brutish and stupid than any man,
And I do not have the understanding of a man [for I do not know what I do not know].

Two things I have asked of You;
Do not deny them to me before I die:

Keep deception and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,

So that I will not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or that I will not be poor and steal,
And so profane the name of my God.

There are three things which are too astounding and unexpectedly wonderful for me,
Four which I do not understand:

What, O my son?
And what, O son of my womb?
And what [shall I advise you], O son of my vows?

Is there anything of which it can be said,
“See this, it is new”?
It has already existed for [the vast] ages [of time recorded or unrecorded]
Which were before us.

I spoke with my heart, saying, “Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom and experience, more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.”

And I set my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I realized that this too is a futile grasping and chasing after the wind.

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure and gratification; so enjoy yourself and have a good time.” But behold, this too was vanity (futility, meaninglessness).

I explored with my mind how to gratify myself with wine while [at the same time] having my mind remain steady and guide me wisely; and how to take control of foolishness, until I could see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

I bought male and female slaves and had slaves born in my house. I also possessed herds and flocks larger than any who preceded me in Jerusalem.

So I became great and excelled more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.

Whatever my eyes looked at with desire I did not refuse them. I did not withhold from my heart any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor; and this was my reward for all my labor.

Then I considered all which my hands had done and labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and chasing after the wind and there was no profit (nothing of lasting value) under the sun.

Then I said to myself, “As it happens to the fool, so death will also happen to me. What use is it then for me to be extremely wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This too is vanity (meaningless).”

So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun caused me only great sorrow; because all is futility and chasing after the wind.

So I hated all the fruit (gain) of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will succeed me.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity (futility, self-conceit).

So I turned aside and let my heart despair over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who pleases God. This too is vanity and chasing after the wind.

I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked,” for there is a time [appointed] for every matter and for every deed.

I said to myself regarding the sons of men, “God is surely testing them in order for them to see that [by themselves, without God] they are [only] animals.”

In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider that
God has made the one as well as the other,
So that man will not find out anything that will be after him.

I have seen everything during my [fleeting] days of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in [spite of] his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives a long life in [spite of] his wickedness.

I have tested all this with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise [independently of God],” but true wisdom was far from me.

I turned around and directed my heart to know, to investigate and to seek [skillful and godly] wisdom and the reason for things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [leading to stupidity and recklessness].

which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand [who pleases God], but I have not found [such] a woman among all these [a thousand in my harem].

All this I have seen while applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has exercised power over others to their detriment.