Proverbs 7-9

American Standard Version

7 My son, keep my words,
And lay up my commandments with thee.
² Keep my commandments and live;
And my law as the apple of thine eye.
³ Bind them upon thy fingers;
Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
⁴ Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister;
And call understanding thy ^[a]kinswoman:
⁵ That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the foreigner that ^[b]flattereth with her words.
⁶ For at the window of my house
I looked forth through my lattice;
⁷ And I beheld among the simple ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man void of understanding,
⁸ Passing through the street near her corner;
And he went the way to her house,
⁹ In the twilight, in the evening of the day,
In the ^[c]middle of the night and in the darkness.
¹⁰ And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of a harlot, and ^[d]wily of heart.
¹¹ (She is ^[e]clamorous and wilful;
Her feet abide not in her house:
¹² Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lieth in wait at every corner.)
¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him,
^[f]And with an impudent face she said unto him:
¹⁴ Sacrifices of peace-offerings ^[g]are with me;
This day have I paid my vows.
¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee,
Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
¹⁶ I have spread my couch with ^[h]carpets of tapestry,
With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
¹⁷ I have ^[i]perfumed my bed
With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning;
Let us solace ourselves with loves.
¹⁹ For the man is not at home;
He is gone a long journey:
²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him;
He will come home at the full moon.
²¹ With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;
With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
²² He goeth after her ^[j]straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as one in ^[k]fetters to the correction of the fool;
²³ Till an arrow strike through his liver;
As a bird hasteth to the snare,
And knoweth not that it is for his life.

²⁴ Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,
And attend to the words of my mouth.
²⁵ Let not thy heart decline to her ways;
Go not astray in her paths.
²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded:
Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol,
Going down to the chambers of death.

8 Doth not wisdom cry,
And understanding put forth her voice?
² On the top of high places by the way,
Where the paths meet, she standeth;
³ Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the coming in at the doors, she crieth aloud:
⁴ Unto you, O men, I call;
And my voice is to the sons of men.
⁵ O ye simple, understand prudence;
And, ye fools, be of an understanding heart.
⁶ Hear, for I will speak excellent things;
And the opening of my lips shall be right things.
⁷ For my mouth shall utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
⁸ All the words of my mouth ^[l]are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
⁹ They are all plain to him that understandeth,
And right to them that find knowledge.
¹⁰ Receive my instruction, and not silver;
And knowledge rather than choice gold.
¹¹ For wisdom is better than rubies;
And all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto it.

¹² I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling,
And find out ^[m]knowledge and discretion.
¹³ The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil:
Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,
And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
¹⁴ Counsel is mine, and ^[n]sound knowledge:
I am understanding; I have might.
¹⁵ By me kings reign,
And princes decree justice.
¹⁶ By me ^[o]princes rule,
And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
¹⁷ I love them that love me;
And those that seek me ^[p]diligently shall find me.
¹⁸ Riches and honor are with me;
Yea, ^[q]durable wealth and righteousness.
¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold;
And my ^[r]revenue than choice silver.
²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice;
²¹ That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,
And that I may fill their treasuries.

²² Jehovah ^[s]possessed me in ^[t]the beginning of his way,
^[u]Before his works of old.
²³ I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
Before the earth was.
²⁴ When there were no depths, I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills was I brought forth;
²⁶ While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,
Nor the ^[v]beginning of the dust of the world.
²⁷ When he ^[w]established the heavens, I was there:
When he set a circle upon the face of the deep,
²⁸ When he made firm the skies above,
When the fountains of the deep became strong,
²⁹ When he gave to the sea ^[x]its bound,
That the waters should not transgress his commandment,
When he ^[y]marked out the foundations of the earth;
³⁰ Then I was by him, as a master workman;
And I ^[z]was daily his delight,
^[aa]Rejoicing always before him,
^31 [ab]Rejoicing in his habitable earth;
And my delight was with the sons of men.

³² Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me;
For blessed are they that keep my ways.
³³ Hear instruction, and be wise,
And refuse it not.
³⁴ Blessed is the man that heareth me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
³⁵ For whoso findeth me findeth life,
And shall ^[ac]obtain favor of Jehovah.
³⁶ But he that ^[ad]sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul:
All they that hate me love death.

9 Wisdom hath builded her house;
She hath hewn out her seven pillars:
² She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine;
She hath also furnished her table:
³ She hath sent forth her maidens;
She crieth upon the highest places of the city:
⁴ Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:
As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
⁵ Come, eat ye of my bread,
And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
^6 [ae]Leave off, ye simple ones, and live;
And walk in the way of understanding.

⁷ He that correcteth a scoffer getteth to himself reviling;
And he that reproveth a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
⁸ Reprove not a scoffer, lest he hate thee:
Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.
⁹ Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:
Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
¹⁰ The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom;
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
¹¹ For by me thy days shall be multiplied,
And the years of thy life shall be increased.
¹² If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself;
And if thou scoffest, thou alone shalt bear it.

^13 [af]The foolish woman is clamorous;
She is ^[ag]simple, and knoweth nothing.
¹⁴ And she sitteth at the door of her house,
On a seat in the high places of the city,
¹⁵ To call to them that pass by,
Who go right on their ways:
¹⁶ Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither;
And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
¹⁷ Stolen waters are sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
¹⁸ But he knoweth not that ^[ah]the dead are there;
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.