The Proverbs

 1 The ^aproverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

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

 3 To receive the ^ainstruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

 4 To give subtilty to the ^asimple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase ^alearning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their ^adark sayings.

 7 ¶The ^afear of the Lord is the beginning of ^bknowledge: but fools despise ^cwisdom and ^dinstruction.

 8 My son, hear the ^ainstruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy ^bmother:

 9 For they shall be an ^aornament of ^bgrace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

 10 ¶My son, if sinners ^aentice thee, ^bconsent thou not.

 11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us ^alurk privily for the innocent without cause:

 12 Let us ^aswallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the ^bpit:

 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

 14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

 15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; ^arefrain thy foot from their path:

 16 For their feet run to ^aevil, and make haste to shed blood.

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

 18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

 19 So are the ways of every one that is ^agreedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

 20 ¶Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

 21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their ^ascorning, and fools ^bhate ^cknowledge?

 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will ^apour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

 24 ¶Because I have called, and ye ^arefused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

 25 But ye have set at ^anought all my ^bcounsel, and would none of my reproof:

 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

 28 Then shall they ^acall upon me, but I will not ^banswer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not ^achoose the fear of the Lord:

 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my ^areproof.

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

 32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

 33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.