Proverbs 1:7-22

⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

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

⁹For they shall be an ornament 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 the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

¹⁴Cast in thy lot among us; let us 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 make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

¹⁸And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

²⁰Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

²¹She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

²²How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?