Proverbs 1:7-29

⁷If you want to be wise, you must begin by revering Yahweh. Only foolish people despise wisdom and good advice/discipline.

⁸My son, pay attention to what I, your father, am teaching you. And do not reject what your mother teaches you.

⁹What we teach you will make you respected like having a lovely turban around your head and like a beautiful necklace to put around your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners tempt/entice you to do what is wrong, say “No” to them.

¹¹They may say, “Come with us! Join us! We will hide and then kill MTY someone who passes by. We will ambush some helpless/innocent people.

¹²We will kill them HYP and get rid of them completely, just like people who are buried in graves are gone forever. While they are in good health, we will send them to the place where dead people are.

¹³And we will seize all the things that they own. We will fill our houses with these things!

¹⁴So, come with us! Join our group! We will share with you the things that we steal.”

¹⁵My son, do not accompany them! Do not walk on the roads with them!

¹⁶They rush to do evil deeds! They hurry to murder MTY people.

¹⁷It is useless to put out a ◄trap/net to catch a bird► because when a bird sees it, it stays away from it.

¹⁸But those wicked people are not like the birds, because they do not realize that when they prepare to ambush someone to kill him, they will be killed themselves!

¹⁹That is what happens to people who eagerly try to get things by violently attacking others. They will only destroy themselves!

²⁰Wisdom PRS shouts to people in the streets, and calls out to people in the ◄plazas/town squares►.

²¹Wisdom calls out in noisy places, and at the entrances to cities.

²²Wisdom says, “How long will you stupid people continue to enjoy doing foolish things RHQ? How long will you people who ridicule God enjoy doing that RHQ? How long will you foolish people refuse to know what things are right RHQ?

²³If you pay attention to me when I rebuke you, I will tell you what I am thinking in my inner being; I will give you some good advice.

²⁴But when I called to you, you refused to listen. I beckoned to you to come to me, but you ignored me.

²⁵I tried to advise you, but you refused to listen to me. I tried to correct you, but you rejected what I told you.

²⁶So now, when you are experiencing troubles/disasters, I will laugh at you. When things happen that cause you to be afraid, I will make fun of you.

²⁷When calamities strike you like a big storm, when disasters hit you like a violent wind, when all kinds of things distress you and give you trouble, I will ridicule you!

²⁸Wisdom also says, “When foolish people call to me to help them, I will not answer them. They will search for me diligently/everywhere, but they will not find me.

²⁹They refused to know what things are right, and they decided not to revere Yahweh.