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1:1  The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
1:2  To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding,
1:3  To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity;
1:4  To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion—
1:5  A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
1:6  To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.
1:7  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
1:8  My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;
1:9  For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.
1:10  My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.
1:11  If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
1:12  Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
1:13  We shall find all kinds of precious possessions, We shall fill our houses with spoil;
1:14  Cast in your lot among us, Let us all have one purse”—
1:15  My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;
1:16  For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.
1:17  Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird;
1:18  But they lie in wait for their own blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives.
1:19  So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.
1:20  Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
1:21  She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:
1:22  “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
1:23  Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
1:24  Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
1:25  Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
1:27  When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
1:28  “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
1:29  Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
1:30  They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.
1:31  Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
1:32  For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
1:33  But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil.”