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Proverbs

1The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

Prologue

² For learning about wisdom and instruction,
   for understanding words of insight,
³ for gaining instruction in wise dealing,
   righteousness, justice, and equity;
⁴ to teach shrewdness to the simple,
   knowledge and prudence to the young—
⁵ let the wise also hear and gain in learning,
   and the discerning acquire skill,
⁶ to understand a proverb and a figure,
   the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
   fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Warnings against Evil Companions

⁸ Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
   and do not reject your mother’s teaching;
⁹ for they are a fair garland for your head,
   and pendants for your neck.
¹⁰ My child, if sinners entice you,
   do not consent.
¹¹ If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
   let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
¹² like Sheol let us swallow them alive
   and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.
¹³ We shall find all kinds of costly things;
   we shall fill our houses with booty.
¹⁴ Throw in your lot among us;
   we will all have one purse’—
¹⁵ my child, do not walk in their way,
   keep your foot from their paths;
¹⁶ for their feet run to evil,
   and they hurry to shed blood.
¹⁷ For in vain is the net baited
   while the bird is looking on;
¹⁸ yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves!
   and set an ambush—for their own lives!
¹⁹ Such is the end^* of all who are greedy for gain;
   it takes away the life of its possessors.