Proverbs 1:8-33

⁸My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not lay aside the rules of your mother;

⁹they will be a graceful wreath for your head and pendants hanging from your neck.

¹⁰My son, if sinners try to entice you into their sin, refuse to follow them.

¹¹If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide and attack innocent people for no reason.

¹²Let us swallow them up alive, like Sheol takes away those who are healthy, and make them like those who fall into the pit.

¹³We shall find all kinds of valuable things; we will fill our houses with what we steal from others.

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us; we will all have one purse together.”

¹⁵My son, do not walk down that road with them; do not let your foot touch where they walk;

¹⁶their feet run to evil and they hurry to shed blood.

¹⁷For it is useless to spread the net in the sight of any bird.

¹⁸These men lie in wait for their own blood— they set an ambush for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of everyone who gains riches by injustice; unjust gain takes away the lives of those who hold on to it.

²⁰Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the open places;

²¹at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, at the entrance of the city gates she speaks,

²²“How long, you naive people, will you love being naive? How long, you mockers, will you delight in mockery, and how long, you fools, will you hate knowledge?

²³Pay attention to my correction; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴I have called, and you have refused to listen; I reached out with my hand, but there was no one who paid attention.

²⁵But you have ignored all my instruction and paid no attention to my correction.

²⁶I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock you when the terror comes—

²⁷when your fearful dread comes like a storm and disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call upon me, and I will not answer; they will desperately call for me, but they will not find me.

²⁹Because they hate knowledge and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,

³⁰they would not follow my instruction, and they despised all my correction.

³¹They will eat the fruit of their ways, and with the fruit of their schemes they will be filled.

³²For the naive are killed when they turn away, and the indifference of fools will destroy them.

³³But whoever listens to me will live in safety and will rest secure with no fear of disaster.”