Parental Counsel
1My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor,
Have given a pledge for a stranger,
2If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,
3Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.
4Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
5Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6Go to the ant, O sluggard,
Observe her ways and be wise,
7Which, having no chief,
Officer or ruler,
8Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.
9How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest”—
11Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
And your need like an armed man.
12A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
13Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
14Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife.
15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;
Instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.
16There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
18A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
20My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
21Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
22When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.
23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;
And reproofs for discipline are the way of life
24To keep you from the evil woman,
From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
25Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
26For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread,
And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.
27Can a man take fire in his bosom
And his clothes not be burned?
28Or can a man walk on hot coals
And his feet not be scorched?
29So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.
30Men do not despise a thief if he steals
To satisfy himself when he is hungry;
31But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;
He must give all the substance of his house.
32The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense;
He who would destroy himself does it.
33Wounds and disgrace he will find,
And his reproach will not be blotted out.
34For jealousy enrages a man,
And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35He will not accept any ransom,
Nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.
The Wiles of the Harlot
1My son, keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you.
2Keep my commandments and live,
And my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your intimate friend;
5That they may keep you from an adulteress,
From the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,
7And I saw among the naive,
And discerned among the youths
A young man lacking sense,
8Passing through the street near her corner;
And he takes the way to her house,
9In the twilight, in the evening,
In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.
11She is boisterous and rebellious,
Her feet do not remain at home;
12She is now in the streets, now in the squares,
And lurks by every corner.
13So she seizes him and kisses him
And with a brazen face she says to him:
14“I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.
15Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.
17I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with caresses.
19For my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a long journey;
20He has taken a bag of money with him,
At the full moon he will come home.”
21With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her flattering lips she seduces him.
22Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,
23Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a bird hastens to the snare,
So he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.
26For many are the victims she has cast down,
And numerous are all her slain.
27Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.
The Commendation of Wisdom
1Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2On top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:
4“To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
5O naive ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, understand wisdom.
6Listen, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.
7For my mouth will utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
9They are all straightforward to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
10Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
11For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.
12“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
13The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
14Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
15By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
17I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
18Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
19My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
20I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
22“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.
32“Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
33Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
34Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
35For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
36But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.”