1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 1:4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 1:9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
1:11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 1:12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 1:13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 1:14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
1:17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 1:18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
1:19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. 1:20