Proverbs 1

Evangelical Heritage Version

² To learn wisdom and discipline,
to understand sayings^[a] that give insight,^[b]
3 to acquire discipline to act sensibly,
to acquire righteousness, justice, and fairness,
⁴ to give good judgment^[c] to the inexperienced,
to give a young man knowledge and foresight.

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father’s discipline,
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching,
⁹ because they are a garland of grace for your head.
They are jewelry for your neck.
¹⁰ My son, if sinners lure you,
do not go along with them.
¹¹ If they say,
“Come with us.
Let’s lie in wait to shed blood.
Let’s hide and ambush an innocent person for no reason.
¹² We will swallow them alive like the grave.
We will swallow them whole
    like those who go down to the pit.
¹³ We will find all kinds of wealth and treasure.
    We will fill our houses with loot.
¹⁴ Cast your lot with us.
    We will all share one bag of money.”
¹⁵ My son, do not walk along the road with them.
Do not set foot on their path,
¹⁶     because their feet run to do evil,
    and they hurry to shed blood.
¹⁷ How useless to spread a net in the sight of any bird!
¹⁸ Yet they set up an ambush for their own blood.
They hide in ambush to take their own lives.
¹⁹ This is where the path leads for everyone
    who is greedy for stolen property:
It takes away the life of those who possess it.

²⁰ Wisdom calls out loudly in the street.
In the public squares she raises her voice.
²¹ At the noisy street corners she calls out.
At the entrances to the city gates she speaks her words:
²² “How long will you gullible^[f] people love being gullible?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing?
How long will fools hate knowledge?
²³ If you respond to my warning,
I will pour out my spirit for you.
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I called, but you refused to listen,
because I stretched out my hand, but no one paid attention,
²⁵ because you ignored all my advice,
and you did not accept my warning,
²⁶ therefore I will laugh at your calamity.
I will jeer when terror strikes you,
²⁷ when terror strikes you like a violent storm,
when calamity strikes you like a windstorm,
when trouble and distress come upon you.
²⁸ Then they will call to me, but I will not answer.
They will look for me, but they will not find me,
²⁹ because they hated knowledge,
and they did not choose the fear of the Lord.
³⁰ They would not accept my advice,
and they despised all my warnings.
³¹ So they will eat the fruit of their own way,
and they will be stuffed with their own schemes.
³² Therefore the wandering ways^[g] of the gullible kill them,
and the complacency of fools destroys them.
³³ But whoever listens to me will live in safety.
He will be secure, without fear of evil.”