Book of Proverbs
Chapter 1
1; The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2; To know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;
3; to receive instruction in prudence, justice, and judgment, and uprightness;
4; to give sense to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man.
5; The wise hears and increases learning, and the understanding ones gets wise counsel,
6; to understand a proverb and an enigma; the words of the wise, and their riddles.
7; The reverence of YAHWEH is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8; My son, hear your father's instruction, and do not forsake the Torah of your mother;
9; for they shall be an ornament of grace to your head, and necklaces for your neck.
10; My son, if sinners lure you, do not be willing.
11; If they say, Walk with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us secretly lurk for the innocent without cause,
12; let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those who go down into the Pit,
13; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with spoil,
14; Let your lot fall among us, one purse shall be to all of us.
15; My son, do not walk in the way with them! Hold back your foot from their path;
16; for their feet run to evil and they haste to shed blood.
17; For in vain the net is spread in the sight of every owner of the wing.
18; And they lie in wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own souls.
19; So are the ways of everyone who gets unjust gain; it takes away its owner's soul.
20; Wisdom cries aloud outside; she gives her voice in the square;
21; she calls at the head of places of commotion; in the opening of the gates, in the city she utters her words;
22; Until when will you love to be simple, you simple ones? And will scorners desire scorn for themselves? And will fools hate knowledge?
23; Turn back at my warning; behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
24; Because I called, and you refused; I extended a hand, and none inclines,
25; and you have ignored all my counsel, and you did not desire my warning.
26; I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your dread comes;
27; when your dread comes like a storm; and your calamity arrives like a tempest, when distress and anguish come on you.
28; Then they shall call on me, and I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.
29; Instead they hated knowledge and chose not the reverence of YAHWEH.
30; They did not desire my counsel; they despised all my reproof,
31; and they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own lusts.
32; For the going astray of the simple kills them, and the ease of fools destroys them.
33; But he who listens to me shall live securely and shall be at ease from the fear of evil.
Chapter 2
1; My son, if you will receive my words, and shall protect my Torah with you,
2; so that you attend to wisdom, you shall extend your heart to understanding.
3; For if you cry for discernment, lifting up your voice for understanding;
4; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as hidden treasures,
5; then you shall understand the reverence of YAHWEH and find knowledge of Elohim.
6; For YAHWEH gives wisdom; out of His mouth are knowledge and understanding.
7; He lays up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to the ones who walk in integrity,
8; to guard the paths of judgment, and He protects the way of His saints.
9; Then you shall understand righteousness and judgment and honesty, and every good path.
10; When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11; discretion shall keep you, understanding shall watch over you,
12; to deliver you from the evil way, from the man who speaks perverse things,
13; those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
14; who rejoice to do evil, they delight in the perversities of the wicked,
15; whose paths are crooked, who are devious in their tracks;
16; these will deliver you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words,
17; who forsakes the friend of her youth and forgets the covenant of her Elohim.
18; For her house leads down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
19; All going in to her do not return, nor do they reach the ways of life.
20; In order that you may walk in the ways of the good and keep the paths of the righteous.
21; For the upright shall live in the land, and the blameless shall remain in it.
22; But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors, who try to hide their sins, shall be rooted out of it.
Chapter 3
1; My son, do not forget my Torah, but let your heart guard and keep my Torah,
2; for they shall add length of days and long life and peace to you.
3; Mercy and truth will not forsake you, tie them on your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart,
4; and you shall find favor and good understanding in the sight of Elohim and man.
5; Trust in YAHWEH with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.
6; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
7; Do not be wise in your own eyes; reverence YAHWEH and depart from evil.
8; Healing shall be to your navel and marrow to your bones.
9; Honor YAHWEH with your substance, and with the first-fruits of all your increase,
10; and your barns shall be filled with plenty, and your wine vats shall burst with new wine.
11; My son, do not reject the chastening of YAHWEH, and do not hate His correction;
12; for whom YAHWEH loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son with whom he is pleased.
13; Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gets understanding.
14; For its profit is better than the gain from silver, and its increase more than fine gold;
15; she is more precious than rubies, and all the things you can desire are not to be compared with her.
16; Length of days is in her right hand, riches and honor in her left hand.
17; Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace.
18; She is a tree of life to the ones who lay hold on her, and happy are the ones holding her fast.
19; YAHWEH founded the earth by wisdom; He founded the heavens by understanding;
20; the depths were broken up by His knowledge, and the clouds dropped down the dew.
21; My son, do not let them depart from your eyes; keep sound wisdom and judgment,
22; and they shall be life to your soul, and grace to your neck;
23; then you shall walk in your way safely, and your foot shall not stumble.
24; When you lie down, you shall not dread; yea, you shall lie down and your sleep shall be sweet.
25; Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of the destruction of the wicked when it comes.
26; For YAHWEH shall be at your side, and He shall keep your foot from being caught.
27; Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.
28; Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come back again, or, Tomorrow I will give, when you have it beside you.
29; Do not plot evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely with you.
30; Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.
31; Do not be envious of the violent man, and choose not among all his ways.
32; For the perverse one is hateful to YAHWEH, but His intimacy is with the righteous.
33; The curse of YAHWEH is in the house of the wicked, but He blesses the abode of the righteous.
34; Surely He scorns the scorners, but He gives grace to the lowly.
35; The wise inherit honor, but fools exalt shame.
Chapter 4
1; Sons, hear the instruction of a father, pay attention to know understanding,
2; for I give you good teaching; do not forsake my Torah.
3; For I was my father's son, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.
4; And he taught me and said to me, Let your heart cling to my words; keep my Torah and live.
5; Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forsake and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
6; Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.
7; Wisdom is the first thing; get wisdom, and with all your getting, get understanding.
8; Exalt her, and she will lift you up; she shall bring you to honor when you embrace her.
9; She shall give a wreath of grace to your head; she shall shield you with a crown of glory.
10; Oh my son, hear and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many.
11; I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in the right tracks;
12; when you go, your tracks shall not be narrowed, and when you run, you shall not stumble.
13; Take fast hold of instruction, do not let her go; keep her, for she is your life.
14; Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not go in the way of evildoers.
15; Avoid it, do not pass by it; turn from it and pass on.
16; For they do not sleep if they have done no evil, 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 righteous is as a bright light going on and shining till the day is established.
19; The way of the wicked is as darkness; they do not know at what they stumble.
20; My son, pay attention to my words; stretch your ear to what I say;
21; let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the center of your heart;
22; for they are life to those who find them, and healing to all his flesh.
23; Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
24; Turn away from you the crooked mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.
25; Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids look straight before you.
26; Ponder, the track of your feet, then all your ways will be established.
27; Do not bend to the right hand or to the left; turn your foot aside from evil.
Chapter 5
1; My son, listen carefully to my wisdom; stretch your ear to my understanding;
2; so that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.
3; For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, and her palate is smoother than oil,
4; but afterwards, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a sword of mouths;
5; her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on Sheol,
6; lest you should meditate on the path of life, her tracks are movable, you cannot know them.
7; Hear me now, O sons, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8; Remove your ways far from her, and do not come near to the door of her house,
9; lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel;
10; that strangers not be filled with your strength, and your labors be in the house of an alien,
11; and you moan when your end comes, when your flesh and muscle are eaten away;
12; and say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction;
13; and I have not heard the voice of my teachers, nor stretched my ear to those instructing me.
14; I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15; Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.
16; Should your overflowing springs be scattered outside, like rivers of waters in the streets?
17; Let them be only your own, and not to strangers with you;
18; let your fountains be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth;
19; she is a loving deer, a graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy you every time, and always be ravished in her love.
20; And my son, why will you be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace a foreigner's bosom?
21; For the ways of a man are before the eyes of YAHWEH, and He ponders all his tracks.
22; His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.
23; He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his foolishness he shall go astray.
Chapter 6
1; My son, if you are surety for your friend, if you struck your hands with a stranger,
2; you are snared with the words of your mouth; you are captured with the words of your own mouth.
3; My son, do this then, and deliver yourself when you come into the hand of your friend: go humble yourself and be bold to your friend.
4; Do not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids.
5; Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a hand of a hunter, and as a bird from the fowlers hand.
6; Go to the ant, lazy man; consider her ways and be wise;
7; who, having no guide, overseer or ruler,
8; provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
9; How long will you lie down, O lazy man? When will you arise out of your sleep?
10; A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down;
11; so shall your poverty come as one walking, and your need like an armed man.
12; A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,
13; winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, teaching with his fingers.
14; Perversity is in his heart; he is plotting evil at every time, he sends out strife.
15; On account of this, calamity shall come suddenly; he is broken quickly and there is no healing.
16; These six things YAHWEH hates; yea, seven are hateful to his soul;
17; High eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18; a heart that plots evil plans, feet hurrying to run to mischief,
19; a false witness who breathes lies, and he sending out strife among brothers.
20; My son, keep your father's Torah, and do not forsake the Torah of your mother.
21; Bind them to your heart forever; tie them around your neck.
22; When you go, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall watch over you; and when you awaken, it will meditate with you.
23; For the mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah a light; and reproofs of instruction are a way of life,
24; to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the strange woman.
25; Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, and do not let her take you with her eyelids.
26; For on account of a woman, a harlot, a man comes to the last loaf of
bread, and another man's wife hunts for the precious soul.
27; Can a man take fire into his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
28; Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be burned?
29; So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; everyone touching her shall not be innocent.
30; They do not despise a thief, if he steals to fill his appetite when he is hungry.
31; But if he is found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the goods of his house.
32; He who commits adultery with a woman lacks heart; he who does it is a destroyer of his own soul.
33; He shall find a wound and dishonor, and his shame 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 lift up the face of every ransom, nor will he consent if you multiply the bribes.
Chapter 7
1; My son, keep my words and store up my Torah within you.
2; Keep my Torah and live, and my Torah as the pupil of your eye.
3; Tie them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
4; Say to wisdom, You are my sister, and call understanding your kinsman,
5; so that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the alien with her flattering words.
6; For I looked through my lattice, at the window of my house,
7; and I saw among the simple ones, I observed among the sons a young man lacking heart,
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 darkness of night.
10; And, behold, a woman came to meet him, with a harlot's dress, and a guarded heart;
11; she is loud and stubborn; her feet do not rest in her own house.
12; At this time she is outside, now in the streets, and she lies in wait at every corner;
13; and she seizes him and kisses him; she hardens her face and says to him,
14; Sacrifices of peace offerings are on me, today I have completed my vows;
15; so I came out to meet you, earnestly to seek your face, and I have found you.
16; I have spread my couch with coverings, with striped cloths of Egyptian linen.
17; I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18; Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us delight ourselves with caresses.
19; For my husband is not at his house; he is going in the way, far away.
20; He has taken a bag of silver in his hand; at the day of the full moon he will enter his house.
21; With the sum of her persuasion she turned him aside; with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22; He goes after her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter; or as one in chains goes to the chastisement of a fool,
23; until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, and not knowing that it is for his soul.
24; Now, then, listen to me, O sons, and attend to the words of my mouth:
25; Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not go astray in her paths.
26; For many are the wounded she has caused to fall; and plentiful all her slain ones.
27; The ways of Sheol are in her house, leading down to the rooms of death.
Chapter 8
1; Does not wisdom call? And does not understanding speak?
2; She stands in the top of high places, by the wayside, in the houses of the paths,
3; beside the gates; at the mouth of the city, at the doors, she cries.
4; I call to you, O men, and my voice is to the sons of men.
5; Understand wisdom, simple ones; and fools, be of an understanding heart.
6; Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7; For my mouth shall speak of truth, and wickedness is hateful to my lips.
8; All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them;
9; they are all plain to the understanding one; and right to those who find knowledge.
10; Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge, rather than choice gold.
11; For wisdom is better than jewels, and all delights cannot be compared to it.
12; I, wisdom, dwell with sense, and I find knowledge of discretions.
13; The reverence of YAHWEH is to hate evil; I hate pride and loftiness, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
14; Counsel and sound wisdom are mine; I am understanding; I have strength.
15; By me kings reign, and leaders decree righteousness.
16; Rulers and nobles rule by me, and all the judges of the earth.
17; I love those who love me, and those who seek me early find me.
18; Riches and honor are with me; enduring wealth and righteousness.
19; My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my increase is better than the best silver.
20; I walk in the path of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice;
21; to cause those who love me to inherit wealth, and I will fill up their storehouses.
22; YAHWEH possessed me in the beginning of His way, from then, before His works.
23; I was set up from everlasting, from that which was before the earth.
24; When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water.
25; Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth;
26; before He had made the earth and the fields, or the highest part of the dust of the world.
27; When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle on the face of the deep,
28; when He formed the clouds above, when He made the strong fountains of the deep,
29; when He gave to the sea its limit, that the waters should not pass beyond His mitzvah; when He decreed the foundations of the earth,
30; then I was at His side, like a master workman; and I was His delights day by day, rejoicing before Him at every time;
31; rejoicing in the world, His earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.
32; And now listen to me, O sons, for blessed are those who keep my ways.
33; Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it.
34; Blessed is the man listening to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35; For whoever finds me finds life, and he shall obtain favor from YAHWEH.
36; But he who sins against me does violence to his own soul; all who hate me love death.
Chapter 9
1; Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars;
2; she has slaughtered her slaughter; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3; She has sent out her maidens; she cries on the highest places of the city;
4; The simple one, turn in here; and to one lacking heart, she says to him,
5; Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6; Forsake the foolish, and live, and go in the way of understanding.
7; He who reproves a scorner gets shame to himself; and he who rebukes a wicked man gets his own blemish.
8; Do not reprove a scorner, that he not hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9; Give to a wise one, and he will be more wise; teach a just one, and he will increase in learning.
10; The reverence of YAHWEH is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11; For by me your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased.
12; If you are wise, you shall be wise for yourself, but if you scorn, you alone shall bear it.
13; A foolish woman is noisy; she is thoughtless, and she knows not what.
14; And she sits at the door of her house, in a seat in the high places of the city,
15; to call those who pass by, who are going straight on their ways,
16; The simple one, let him turn in here; and to the one lacking heart, she says to him,
17; Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
18; But he does not know that the departed spirits are there; her guests are in the depths of hell.
Chapter 10
1; The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes a father rejoice, but the foolish son is sorrow and depression to his mother.
2; Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.
3; YAHWEH will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but He pushes away the desire of the wicked.
4; He who works with a lazy hand becomes poor, but the hand of the hard worker makes him rich.
5; He who gathers in summer is a prudent son; he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.
6; Blessings are on the head of the just, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
7; The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.
8; The wise in heart accepts Torah, but the foolish of lips shall be thrust away.
9; He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways shall be found out.
10; He who winks the eye causes sorrow, but the foolish of lips shall be thrust away.
11; The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
12; Hatred stirs up fights, but love covers over all transgressions.
13; Wisdom is found in the lips of him who has understanding, but a rod is waiting for the back of him who lacks heart.
14; The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin.
15; The rich man's wealth is his strong city; the ruin of the poor is their poverty.
16; The labor of the righteous is for life; the gain of the wicked is for sin.
17; On the way of life is He who heeds instruction, but he who refuses reproof is going astray.
18; He who hides hatred with lying lips, and he who sends out slander, he is a fool.
19; In the abundance of words sin does not cease, but one restraining his lips is prudent.
20; The tongue of the just is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is as a little.
21; The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of heart.
22; The blessing of YAHWEH, it makes rich, and he adds no pain with it.
23; To work out evil devices is as laughter to the foolish; so wisdom is to a man of understanding.
24; That which the wicked fears shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous is granted.
25; As the storm passes, so the wicked is not; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.
26; Like vinegar to the teeth, and like smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy man to those who send him.
27; The reverence of YAHWEH prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be cut short.
28; The hope of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked shall perish.
29; The way of YAHWEH is strength to the upright, but ruin is to doers of iniquity.
30; The righteous shall never be moved, and the wicked shall not dwell in the land.
31; The mouth of the righteous flourishes with wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be cut off.
32; The lips of the righteous know what is pleasing, but the mouth of the wicked knows only perversities.