Proverbs 1 - Modern English Version

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

Prologue

² To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding,

³ to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity;

⁴ to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion,

⁵ a wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

⁶ to understand a proverb and an interpretation, the words of the wise and their riddles.

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

Warnings Against Evil Companions

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother;

⁹ for they will be a wreath of grace upon your head, and a necklace around your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹ If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

¹² let us swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit;

¹³ we will find all kinds of precious possessions, we will fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse,”

¹⁵ my son, do not walk in the way with them; keep your foot from their path,

¹⁶ for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷ Surely, in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird;

¹⁸ but they lie in wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.

¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its owners.

The Call of Wisdom

²⁰ Wisdom cries out in the street, she raises her voice in the markets.

²¹ She cries out at the entrance of the noisiest street, at the entrance of the city gates she speaks her words:

²² “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? And how long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge.

²³ Turn to my rebuke; behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

²⁴ Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,

²⁵ because you neglected all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof,

²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,

²⁷ when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸ “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me,

²⁹ because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

³⁰ They would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof.

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

³² For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³ But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be at ease without fear of evil.”