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2 For attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving wise instruction
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 for teaching prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 a wise man will listen and increase his learning,
and a discerning man will obtain guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching,
9 for they will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.
11 If they say, “Come with us;
let’s lie in wait for blood,
let’s ambush some innocent person for sport;
12 let’s swallow them alive, like Sheol,
and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.
13 We will find all kinds of valuable things;
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot with us;
and we will all share a common purse”—
15 my son, do not go along with them,
keep your foot from their paths;
16 for their feet run toward evil,
and they hurry to shed blood.
17 How foolish it is to spread a net
in full view of any bird!
18 Yet these men lay in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
19 Such is the end of everyone who pursues dishonest gain;
it takes away the lives of those who get it.
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares;
21 at the head of noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she makes her speech:
22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways?
How long will you mockers delight in your mocking,
and you fools hate knowledge?
23 If you turn to my discipline,
then I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 But since I have called out and you refused,
and I have stretched out my hand, yet no one gave heed;
25 since you ignored all my counsel,
and did not accept my correction,
26 I in turn will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
27 when terror strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish overtake you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will search for me diligently,
but they will not find me.
29 For they hated knowledge,
and did not choose to fear the Lord;
30 they would have none of my counsel,
and spurned my rebuke,
31 so they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be gorged with their own schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live securely
and be at ease, free from the fear of harm.