Proverbs
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 – Chapter 10
Chapter 11 – Chapter 15
Chapter 16 – Chapter 20
Chapter 21 – Chapter 25
Chapter 26 – Chapter 30
Chapter 31 – Chapter 31
1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding; 3To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity; 4To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion: 5That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels: 6To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. 8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother: 9For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck. 10My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not. 11If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause; 12Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit; 13We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil; 14Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse: 15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path: 16For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood. 17For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird: 18And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives. 19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places; 21She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words: 22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge? 23Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you. 24Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof: 26I also will laugh in [the day of] your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you. 28Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me: 29For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah: 30They would none of my counsel; They despised all my reproof. 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices. 32For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them. 33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee; 2So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding; 3Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding; 4If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures: 5Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God. 6For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding: 7He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [He is] a shield to them that walk in integrity; 8That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints. 9Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, [yea], every good path. 10For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul; 11Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee: 12To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things; 13Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness; 14Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil; 15Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths: 16To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words; 17That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God: 18For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead; 19None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life: 20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous. 21For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it. 22But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
1My son, forget not my law; But let thy heart keep my commandments: 2For length of days, and years of life, And peace, will they add to thee. 3Let not kindness and truth forsake thee: Bind them about thy neck; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart: 4So shalt thou find favor and good understanding In the sight of God and man. 5Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding: 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths. 7Be not wise in thine own eyes; Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil: 8It will be health to thy navel, And marrow to thy bones. 9Honor Jehovah with thy substance, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase: 10So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, And thy vats shall overflow with new wine. 11My son, despise not the chastening of Jehovah; Neither be weary of his reproof: 12For whom Jehovah loveth he reproveth; Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
13Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, And the man that getteth understanding. 14For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver, And the profit thereof than fine gold. 15She is more precious than rubies: And none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her. 16Length of days is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. 17Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. 18She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: And happy is every one that retaineth her. 19Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding he established the heavens. 20By his knowledge the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew. 21My son, let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep sound wisdom and discretion: 22So shall they be life unto thy soul, And grace to thy neck. 23Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely, And thy foot shall not stumble. 24When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 25Be not afraid of sudden fear, Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh: 26For Jehovah will be thy confidence, And will keep thy foot from being taken.
27Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thy hand to do it. 28Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, And to-morrow I will give; When thou hast it by thee. 29Devise not evil against thy neighbor, Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. 30Strive not with a man without cause, If he have done thee no harm. 31Envy thou not the man of violence, And choose none of his ways. 32For the perverse is an abomination to Jehovah; But his friendship is with the upright. 33The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the wicked; But he blesseth the habitation of the righteous. 34Surely he scoffeth at the scoffers; But he giveth grace unto the lowly. 35The wise shall inherit glory; But shame shall be the promotion of fools.
1Hear, [my] sons, the instruction of a father, And attend to know understanding: 2For I give you good doctrine; Forsake ye not my law. 3For I was a son unto my father, Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. 4And he taught me, and said unto me: Let thy heart retain my words; Keep my commandments, and live; 5Get wisdom, get understanding; Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth; 6Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; Love her, and she will keep thee. 7Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom; Yea, with all thy getting get understanding. 8Exalt her, and she will promote thee; She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. 9She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee.
10Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; And the years of thy life shall be many. 11I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness. 12When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: Keep her; for she is thy life. 14Enter not into the path of the wicked, And walk not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it; Turn from it, and pass on. 16For they sleep not, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. 17For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. 18But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19The way of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble.
20My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. 22For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. 23Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. 24Put away from thee a wayward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. 25Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. 27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.
1My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: 2That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge. 3For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil: 4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. 5Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol; 6So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, [and] she knoweth [it] not.
7Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, And depart not from the words of my mouth. 8Remove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house; 9Lest thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel; 10Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors [be] in the house of an alien, 11And thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 12And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof; 13Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 14I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation.
15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well. 16Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets? 17Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee. 18Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth. 19[As] a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love. 20For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths. 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin. 23He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
February 2, 2015 at 3:26 pm |
Solomon, the polygamous man with hundreds of concubines around him, gets up from his bed and exhorts the young men to drink waters from their own cisterns implying that they should only have one woman each for themselves. He calls on his readers to hearken to his words of wisdom which he spoke out of his own experience with women. For him, wisdom came from experience. Had he not gone through so many episodes with all sorts of women it could be deduced that such wisdom might not have gained roots in his soul. It therefore seems that Solomon’s polygamy benefited us.