Proverbs 1:1-17

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

²To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;

³To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

⁴To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:

⁵That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

⁶To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

⁷The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

⁹For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

¹¹If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

¹²Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit;

¹³We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil;

¹⁴Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse:

¹⁵My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird: