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

²For learning about wisdom and instruction,
for understanding words of insight,
³for gaining instruction in wise dealing,
righteousness, justice, and equity;
⁴to teach shrewdness to the simple,
knowledge and prudence to the young—
⁵let the wise also hear and gain in learning,
and the discerning acquire skill,
⁶to understand a proverb and a figure,
the words of the wise and their riddles. ⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
and do not reject your mother’s teaching;
⁹for they are a fair garland for your head,
and pendants for your neck.
¹⁰My child, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
¹¹If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
¹²like Sheol let us swallow them alive
and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.
¹³We shall find all kinds of costly things;
we shall fill our houses with booty.
¹⁴Throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse”—
¹⁵my child, do not walk in their way,
keep your foot from their paths;
¹⁶for their feet run to evil,
and they hurry to shed blood.
¹⁷For in vain is the net baited
while the bird is looking on;
¹⁸yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves!
and set an ambush—for their own lives!
¹⁹Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors. ²⁰Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
²¹At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
²³Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
²⁵and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
²⁷when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
²⁹Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
³⁰would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
³¹therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
³²For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
³³but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.” 2My child, if you accept my words
and treasure up my commandments within you,
²making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
³if you indeed cry out for insight,
and raise your voice for understanding;
⁴if you seek it like silver,
and search for it as for hidden treasures—
⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
⁶For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
⁸guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of his faithful ones.
⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹prudence will watch over you;
and understanding will guard you.
¹²It will save you from the way of evil,
from those who speak perversely,
¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
¹⁴who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil;
¹⁵those whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways. ¹⁶You will be saved from the loose woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
¹⁷who forsakes the partner of her youth
and forgets her sacred covenant;
¹⁸for her way leads down to death,
and her paths to the shades;
¹⁹those who go to her never come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life. ²⁰Therefore walk in the way of the good,
and keep to the paths of the just.
²¹For the upright will abide in the land,
and the innocent will remain in it;
²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.