How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and, scoffers, in scoffing, delight them? and, dullards, hate knowledge?

Because I called, and ye refused, I stretched out my hand, and no one regarded;

I also, at your calamity, will laugh, I will mock, when cometh your dread;

When cometh as a crashing your dread, and, your calamity, as a storm-wind, overtaketh, when there come upon you, distress and anguish.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and, with their own counsels, be filled.

Yea he treasureth, for the upright, safety, A shield is he to them who walk in integrity,

When wisdom entereth thy heart, and, knowledge, to thy soul, is sweet,

From them who forsake the paths of rectitude, to walk in this ways of darkness;

Who rejoice to do wrong, exult in the perversities of the wrongful;

Whose paths, are twisted, and they are tortuous in their tracks:

None who go in unto her, come back, neither attain they unto the paths of life:

To the end that thou walk in the way of good men, and, the paths of the righteous, that thou observe.

For, the upright, shall abide on the earth, - and, the men of integrity, shall remain therein;

So find thou favour and good repute, in the eyes of God and man.

Trust thou in Yahweh, with all thy heart, and, unto thine own understanding, do not lean:

In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and, he, will make straight thy paths.

Do not become wise in thine own eyes, revere Yahweh, and avoid evil:

So shall thy storehouses be filled with plenty, and, with new wine, shall thy vats overflow.

For, whom Yahweh loveth, he correcteth, he causeth pain to the son in whom he delighteth.

Length of days, is in her right hand, in her left, are riches and honour;

A tree of life, is she, to them who secure her, - and, they who hold her fast, are every one to be pronounced happy.

Yahweh, in wisdom, founded the earth, establishing the heavens with understanding;

So shall they become life to thy soul, and an adorning to thy neck;

Then, shalt thou walk securely in thy way, and, thy foot, shall not stumble;

When thou sittest down, thou shalt have no dread, yea thou shalt lie down, and sweet shall be thy sleep.

Be not thou afraid of sudden dread, nor of the desolation of the lawless, when it cometh.

For, Yahweh, will be in all thy ways, and will keep thy foot from the snare.

Withhold not good from them who ask it, when it is in power of thy hand to do it:

Do not say to thy neighbour, Go and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee.

Devise not against thy neighbour an injury, seeing that, he, dwelleth securely by thee.

For, an abomination to Yahweh, is the tortuous man, but, with the upright, he is intimate.

The curse of Yahweh, is in the house of the lawless one, but, the home of the righteous, he blesseth.

For, a son, became I to my father, tender and most precious in the sight of my mother.

Exalt her, and she will set thee on high, she will bring thee to honour, when thou dust embrace her:

In the way of wisdom, have I taught thee, I have guided thee in tracks of uprightness.

When thou walkest, thy step shall not be hemmed in, and, if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

Upon the path of the lawless, do not thou enter, and do not advance in the way of the wicked:

For they consume bread gotten by lawlessness, and, wine obtained by violence, they drink.

But, the path of the righteous, is as the light of dawn, - going on and brightening, unto meridian day.

Let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart;

For, life, they are, to them who find them, - and, to every part of one's flesh, they bring healing.

Her feet, are going down to death, - on hades, will her steps take firm hold.

Lest strange men, be well fed, by thy strength, and, thy toils, be in the house of the alien.

So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;

Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.

Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.

Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:

A loving hind! a graceful doe! let, her bosom, content thee at all times, and, in her love, mayst thou stray evermore.

His own iniquities, shall entrap him with the lawless, and, by the cords of his own sin, shall he be seized.

Do this then, my son, and deliver thyself, When thou hast come into the hand of thy neighbour, Go, haste thee, and urge thy neighbour;

Prepareth, in the summer, her food, hath collected, in the harvest, her sustenance.

So shall come in, as a highwayman, thy poverty, and, thy want, as one armed with a shield.

An abandoned man, a man of iniquity, is he who - goeth on in perversity of mouth;

Hath perverse things in his heart, deviseth mischief on every occasion, strifes, he sendeth forth.

For this cause, suddenly cometh his doom, in a moment, shall he be torn in pieces and there be no mending.

One that uttereth lies - a false witness, and one sending forth strifes between brethren.

When thou walkest abroad, it shall guide thee, when thou sleepest, it shall watch over thee, when thou wakest, it shall speak to thee:

Do not covet her beauty, in thy heart, neither let her take thee, by her eyelashes;

Because, for the sake of an impure woman, a man may be brought even to a cake of bread, - and, a man's wife, for a precious soul, may hunt!

Can a man snatch up fire in his bosom, and, his clothes, not be burned?

So, he that goeth in unto his neighbour's wife, no man shall be guiltless who toucheth her!

Men despise not a thief, when he stealeth, to satisfy his appetite, because he is famished;

He that committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh sense, A destroyer of his own life, is he that doeth it;

For, jealousy, is the rage of a man, nor will he spare, in the day of avenging;

Bind them upon thy fingers, write them, on the tablet of thy heart;

Say unto wisdom, My sister, thou! and, an acquaintance, call thou, understanding:

For, in the window of my house, through my lattice, I looked out;

Passing through the street, near her corner, and, on the way to her house, he sauntered along;

In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the midst of the night, and the gloom;

And lo! a woman, came to meet him, attired as one unchaste, of a wily heart.

Boisterous, is she, and rebellious, In her house, abide not her feet;

Now outside, now in the broadways, and, near every corner, she lieth in wait:

Coverlets, have I spread on my couch of pleasure, dark-hued stuffs, of the yarn of Egypt;

For the husband is not in his house, he hath gone on a journey afar;

A bag of silver, hath he taken in his hand, On the day of the full moon, will he enter his house.

Going after her instantly, as an ox, to the slaughter, he entereth, and, as in fetters, unto the correction of a fool.

Until an arrow cleaveth his liver, as a bird hasteth into a snare, and knoweth not, that, for his life, it is!

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

Ways to hades, are in her house, descending into the chambers of death.

Beside the gates, at the entrance of the city, - at the going in of the openings, she shouteth: -

In righteousness, shall be all the sayings of my mouth, nothing therein, shall be crafty or perverse;

In the way of righteousness, I march along, in the middle of the paths of justice:

At the outset of the ages, had I been established, in advance of the antiquities of the earth;

When there was no resounding deep, I had been brought forth, when there were no fountains, abounding with water;

When he prepared the heavens, there, was I! When he decreed a vault upon the face of the resounding deep;

When he made firm the skies above, when the fountains of the resounding deep, waxed strong;

When he fixed for the sea its bound, that, the waters, should not go beyond his bidding, when he decreed the foundations of the earth: -

Then became I beside him, a firm and sure worker, then became I filled with delight, day by day, exulting before him on every occasion;

Exulting in the fruitful land of his earth, Yea, my fulness of delight, was with the sons of men.

But, he that misseth me, wrongeth his own soul, all who hate me, love death.

hath slaughtered her beasts, hath mingled her wine, hath even set in order her table;

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither, as for him that lacketh sense, she saith to him -

Come, feed on my food, and drink of the wine I have mingled;

Forsake the simple ones, and live, and advance in the way of understanding.

So she sitteth at the entrance of her house, upon a seat, in the heights of the city;

To invite them who pass by the way, who are going straight on in their paths:

But he knoweth not, that the shades are there; In the depths of hades, are her guests.

He that gathereth in summer, is a prudent son, he that sleepeth long in harvest, is a son causing shame.

The wise in heart, will accept commandments, but, he that is foolish with his lips, shall be thrust away.

In the lips of the intelligent, is found wisdom, but, a rod, is for the back of him that lacketh sense.