1:20Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
21At the head of the noisy streets
she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the
city she utters her sayings:
22“How long, O naive ones, will you
love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in
scoffing
And fools hate knowledge?
23Turn to my reproof,
Behold, I will pour out my spirit
on you;
I will make my words known to you.
24Because I called and you refused,
I stretched out my hand and no one
paid attention;
25And you neglected all my counsel
And did not want my reproof;
26I will also laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,
27When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a
whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come
upon you.
28Then they will call on me, but I
will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they
will not find me,
29Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord.
30They would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
31So they shall eat of the fruit of their
own way
And be satiated with their own
devices.
32For the waywardness of the naive
will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will
destroy them.
33But he who listens to me shall live
securely
And will be at ease from the dread
of evil.”

2:8Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His
godly ones

3:5Trust in the Lord with all your
heart
And do not lean on your own
understanding.
6In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.

4:18But the path of the righteous is like
the light of dawn,
That shines brighter and brighter until
the full day.

5:1My son, give attention to my wisdom,
Incline your ear to my understanding;
2That you may observe discretion
And your lips may reserve knowledge.
3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey
And smoother than oil is her speech;
4But in the end she is bitter as
wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5Her feet go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.

6She does not ponder the path of life;
Her ways are unstable, she does not
know it.
7Now then, my sons, listen to me
And do not depart from the words of
my mouth.
8Keep your way far from her
And do not go near the door of her
house,
9Or you will give your vigor to others
And your years to the cruel one;
10And strangers will be filled with
your strength
And your hard-earned goods will go
to the house of an alien;
11And you groan at your final end,
When your flesh and your body are
consumed;
12And you say, “How I have hated
instruction!
And my heart spurned reproof!
13I have not listened to the voice of my
teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!
14I was almost in utter ruin
In the midst of the assembly and
congregation.”

15Drink water from your own cistern
And fresh water from your own well.
16Should your springs be dispersed
abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?
17Let them be yours alone
And not for strangers with you.
18Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19As a loving hind and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be exhilarated always with her love.
20For why should you, my son, be
exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21For the ways of a man are before the
yes of the Lord,
And He watches all his paths.
22His own iniquities will capture the
wicked,
And he will be held with the cords of
his sin.
23He will die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he
will go astray.

8:1Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2On top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her
stand;
3Beside the gates, at the opening to
the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she
cries out:
4“To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
5O naive ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, understand wisdom.
6Listen, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal
right things.
7For my mouth will utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to
my lips.
8All the utterances of my mouth are
in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted
in them.
9They are all straightforward to him
who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
10Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choices
gold.
11For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot
compare with her

12“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
13The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
14Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
15By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
17I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me
will find me.
18Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
19My fruit is better than gold, even
pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest
silver.
20I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21To endow those who love me with
wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.

22“The Lord possessed me at the
beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest
times of the earth.
24When there were no depths I was
brought forth,
When there were no springs
abounding with water.
25Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26While He had not yet made th
earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27When He established the heavens,
I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face
of the deep,
28When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became
fixed,
29When He set for the sea its
boundary
So that the water would not
transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations
of the earth;
30Then I was beside Him, as a master
workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of
men

32“Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
33Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
34Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
35For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
36But he who sins against me injures
himself;
All those who hate me love death.”

9:1Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2She has prepared her food, she has
mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
3She has sent out her maidens, she
calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
4“Whoever is naive, let him turn in
here!”
To him who lacks understanding she
says,
5“Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6Forsake your folly and live,
And proceed in the way of
understanding.

7He who corrects a scoffer gets
dishonor for himself,
And he who reproves a wicked man
gets insults for himself.
8Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will
hate you,
Reprove a wise man and he will
love you.
9Give instruction to a wise man and
he will be still wiser,
Teach a righteous man and he will
increase his learning.
10The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One
is understanding.
11For by me your days will be
multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
12If you are wise, you are wise for
yourself,
And if you scoff, you alone will bear it

13The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and knows nothing.
14She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
15Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
16“Whoever is naive, let him turn i
here,”
And to him who lacks understanding
she says,
17“Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18But he does not know that the dead
are there,
That her guests are in the depths of
Sheol.