PROVERBS

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, and judgment, and equity; 1:4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

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 thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 1:9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

1:11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 1:12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 1:13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 1:14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

1:17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

1:18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

1:19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 1:21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

1:24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 1:27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

1:28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 1:30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

1:32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2:2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 2:3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 2:4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

2:7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

2:8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

2:9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 2:12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 2:13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 2:14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 2:15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 2:17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

2:18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

2:19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

2:20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

2:21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 3:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

3:14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.

3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

3:16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

3:18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

3:19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

3:21 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: 3:22 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

3:23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

3:26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

3:27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

3:28 Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

3:29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

3:30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

3:31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

3:32 For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

3:33 The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.

3:34 Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

3:35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

4:2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

4:3 For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

4:4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

4:6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

4:8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

4:9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

4:10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

4:11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

4:12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

4:13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

4:15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

4:16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

4:17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

4:21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

4:22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

4:24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

4:27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thi