Proverbs 1:7-27

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

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

⁹That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them.

¹¹If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:

¹²Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit.

¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils.

¹⁴Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.

¹⁵My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths.

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

¹⁷But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.

¹⁸And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls.

¹⁹So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.

²⁰Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:

²¹At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:

²²O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?

²³Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.

²⁴Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded.

²⁵You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions.

²⁶I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.

²⁷When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you: