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/Prov/ - Proverbs
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The Proverbs
The Proverbs
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The Proverbs
1
The proverbs 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 instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5
A wise
man
will hear, and will increase learning; 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 dark sayings.
7
The fear of the LORD
is
the beginning of knowledge:
but
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9
For they
shall be
an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
10
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
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; refrain thy foot from their path:
16
For their feet run to evil, 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 greedy 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 scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, 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 call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit 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.
2
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
and
apply thine heart to understanding;
3
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
and
liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as
for
hid treasures;
5
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth
cometh
knowledge and understanding.
7
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous:
he is
a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8
He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity;
yea,
every good path.
10
When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12
To deliver thee from the way of the evil
man,
from the man that speaketh froward things;
13
Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14
Who rejoice to do evil,
and
delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15
Whose ways
are
crooked, and
they
froward in their paths:
16
To deliver thee from the strange woman,
even
from the stranger
which
flattereth with her words;
17
Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18
For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19
None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20
That thou mayest walk in the way of good
men,
and keep the paths of the righteous.
21
For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
3
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
2
For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
3
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
4
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
5
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
8
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
9
Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
11
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
12
For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son
in whom
he delighteth.
13
Happy
is
the man
that
findeth wisdom, and the man
that
getteth understanding.
14
For the merchandise of it
is
better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15
She
is
more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16
Length of days
is
in her right hand;
and
in her left hand riches and honour.
17
Her ways
are
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
are
peace.
18
She
is
a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy
is every one
that retaineth her.
19
The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
20
By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
21
My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:
22
So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
23
Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
24
When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
25
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
26
For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
27
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do
it.
28
Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.
29
Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
30
Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
31
Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
32
For the froward
is
abomination to the LORD: but his secret
is
with the righteous.
33
The curse of the LORD
is
in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
34
Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
35
The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
4
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
2
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
3
For I was my father’s son, tender and only
beloved
in the sight of my mother.
4
He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
5
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget
it
not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
7
Wisdom
is
the principal thing;
therefore
get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
8
Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
9
She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall 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 right paths.
12
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when 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 go not in the way of evil
men.
15
Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16
For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause
some
to fall.
17
For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18
But the path of the just
is
as the shining 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 thine 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 froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
25
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26
Ponder 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.
5
My son, attend unto my wisdom,
and
bow thine ear to my understanding:
2
That thou mayest regard discretion, and
that
thy lips may keep knowledge.
3
For the lips of a strange woman drop
as
an honeycomb, and her mouth
is
smoother than oil:
4
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6
Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable,
that
thou canst not know
them.
7
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, 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 honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours
be
in the house of a stranger;
11
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad,
and
rivers of waters in the streets.
17
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
18
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19
Let her be as
the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21
For the ways of man
are
before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
6
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend,
if
thou hast stricken thy hand with 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, deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
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 guide, overseer, or ruler,
8
Provideth her meat 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 one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
12
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
13
He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
14
Frowardness
is
in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
15
Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
16
These six
things
doth the LORD hate: yea, seven
are
an abomination unto him:
17
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19
A false witness
that
speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
20
My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21
Bind them continually upon thine heart,
and
tie them about thy neck.
22
When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep 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 tongue of a strange woman.
25
Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
26
For by means of a whorish woman
a man is brought
to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
27
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28
Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29
So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
30
Men
do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
31
But
if
he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
32
But
whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he
that
doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
33
A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
34
For jealousy
is
the rage of a man: therefore 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.
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 table of thine heart.
4
Say unto wisdom, Thou
art
my sister; and call understanding
thy
kinswoman:
5
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger
which
flattereth with her words.
6
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7
And 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, in the black and dark night:
10
And, behold, there met him a woman
with
the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11
(She
is
loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12
Now
is she
without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13
So she caught him, and kissed him,
and
with an impudent face said unto him,
14
I have
peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
15
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved
works,
with fine linen of Egypt.
17
I have 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 goodman
is
not at home, he is gone a long journey:
20
He hath taken a bag of money with him,
and
will come home at the day appointed.
21
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
23
Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it
is
for his life.
24
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25
Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong
men
have been slain by her.
27
Her house
is
the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
8
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2
She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3
She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4
Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice
is
to the sons of man.
5
O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6
Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips
shall be
right things.
7
For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness
is
an abomination to my lips.
8
All the words of my mouth
are
in righteousness;
there is
nothing froward 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 to it.
12
I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13
The fear of the LORD
is
to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
14
Counsel
is
mine, and sound wisdom: I
am
understanding; I have strength.
15
By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16
By me princes rule, and nobles,
even
all the judges of the earth.
17
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18
Riches and honour
are
with me;
yea,
durable riches and righteousness.
19
My fruit
is
better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20
I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21
That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
22
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever 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 highest part of the dust of the world.
27
When he prepared the heavens, I
was
there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28
When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30
Then I was by him,
as
one brought up
with him:
and I was daily
his
delight, rejoicing always before him;
31
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights
were
with the sons of men.
32
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: 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 obtain favour of the LORD.
36
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
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