| 1 |
Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father, And attend to know understanding: |
| 2 |
For I give you good doctrine; Forsake ye not my law. |
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For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. |
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And he taught me, and said unto me: Let thy heart retain my words; Keep my commandments, and live; |
| 5 |
Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth; |
| 6 |
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; Love her, and she will keep thee. |
| 7 |
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; Yea, with all thy getting get understanding. |
| 8 |
Exalt her, and she will promote thee; She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. |
| 9 |
She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee. |
| 10 |
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of thy life shall be many. |
| 11 |
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness. |
| 12 |
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. |
| 13 |
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: Keep her; for she is thy life. |
| 14 |
Enter not into the path of the wicked, And walk not in the way of evil men. |
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Avoid it, pass not by it; Turn from it, and pass on. |
| 16 |
For they sleep not, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. |
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For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. |
| 18 |
But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day. |
| 19 |
The way of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble. |
| 20 |
My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. |
| 21 |
Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. |
| 22 |
For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. |
| 23 |
Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. |
| 24 |
Put away from thee a wayward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. |
| 25 |
Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. |
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Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. |
| 27 |
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil. |
| 1 |
My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: |
| 2 |
That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge. |
| 3 |
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil: |
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But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. |
| 5 |
Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol; |
| 6 |
So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not. |
| 7 |
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me, And depart not from the words of my mouth. |
| 8 |
Remove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house; |
| 9 |
Lest thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel; |
| 10 |
Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors be in the house of an alien, |
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And thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed, |
| 12 |
And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof; |
| 13 |
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! |
| 14 |
I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation. |
| 15 |
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well. |
| 16 |
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets? |
| 17 |
Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee. |
| 18 |
Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth. |
| 19 |
As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love. |
| 20 |
For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? |
| 21 |
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths. |
| 22 |
His own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin. |
| 23 |
He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. |
| 1 |
My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor, If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger; |
| 2 |
Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. |
| 3 |
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, Seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor: Go, humble thyself, and importune thy neighbor; |
| 4 |
Give not sleep to thine eyes, Nor slumber to thine eyelids; |
| 5 |
Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, And as a bird from the hand of the fowler. |
| 6 |
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise: |
| 7 |
Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler, |
| 8 |
Provideth her bread in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest. |
| 9 |
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? |
| 10 |
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep: |
| 11 |
So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man. |
| 12 |
A worthless person, a man of iniquity, Is he that walketh with a perverse mouth; |
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That winketh with his eyes, that speaketh with his feet, That maketh signs with his fingers; |
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In whose heart is perverseness, Who deviseth evil continually, Who soweth discord. |
| 15 |
Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; On a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy. |
| 16 |
There are six things which Jehovah hateth; Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him: |
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Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood; |
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A heart that deviseth wicked purposes, Feet that are swift in running to mischief, |
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A false witness that uttereth lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren. |
| 20 |
My son, keep the commandment of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother: |
| 21 |
Bind them continually upon thy heart; Tie them about thy neck. |
| 22 |
When thou walkest, it shall lead thee; When thou sleepest, it shall watch over thee; And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. |
| 23 |
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; And reproofs of instruction are the way of life: |
| 24 |
To keep thee from the evil woman, From the flattery of the foreigner's tongue. |
| 25 |
Lust not after her beauty in thy heart; Neither let her take thee with her eyelids. |
| 26 |
For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread; And the adulteress hunteth for the precious life. |
| 27 |
Can a man take fire in his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? |
| 28 |
Or can one walk upon hot coals, And his feet not be scorched? |
| 29 |
So he that goeth in to his neighbor's wife; Whosoever toucheth her shall not be unpunished. |
| 30 |
Men do not despise a thief, if he steal To satisfy himself when he is hungry: |
| 31 |
But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; He shall give all the substance of his house. |
| 32 |
He that committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: He doeth it who would destroy his own soul. |
| 33 |
Wounds and dishonor shall he get; And his reproach shall not be wiped away. |
| 34 |
For jealousy is the rage of a man; And he will not spare in the day of vengeance. |
| 35 |
He will not regard any ransom; Neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts. |