Old Testament · Poetry and wisdom

Proverbs chapter 1

The of , son of David, king of Israel:These are for gaining and , for understanding words full of ,for receiving in living with —doing what is , , and ,for giving to the , and knowledge and to the young.Let the wise listen and add to what they know, and let the discerning pick up ,for understanding proverbs and , the sayings of the wise and their . for is where begins. Only despise wisdom and discipline., listen to what your father you, and don’t walk away from what your mother .They will be a on your head and a around your neck.My son, when try to pull you in, don’t go along with it.If they say, “Come with us—let’s someone and kill them, let’s hide and jump some innocent person just for fun,let’s swallow them alive like , whole and healthy like people falling into a pit,we’ll find all kinds of valuable stuff—we’ll fill our houses with what we take, with us—we’ll all share one ”—my son, don’t go down that road with them. Keep your feet off their .Because their feet run toward —they rush to shed blood.It’s pointless to set a trap in full view of any bird—but these people set an ambush that will cost them their own lives; they are setting a trap for themselves.This is how it ends for everyone —it takes the life of the one who gets it. calls out in the street. She raises her voice in the public squares.At the head of the noisy streets she cries out. At the entrance to the she makes her speech:“How long will you keep loving your inexperience? How long will enjoy their cynicism and fools hate knowledge?Turn and pay attention when I you! Look—I will pour out my on you. I will make my words known to you.But since I called and you refused to listen, since I reached out my hand and no one paid attention,since you ignored all my and wanted nothing to do with my correction—then I will laugh when hits you. I will mock when what you dread comes crashing down,when what you dread comes like a , when disaster sweeps over you like a , when trouble and distress close in on you.Then they will call out to me, but I will not answer. They will search hard for me, but they won’t find me.Because they hated knowledge and did not choose to Yahweh,because they wanted nothing to do with my advice and rejected every correction I offered,they will eat the of their own choices and be stuffed full of their own .Because will kill the inexperienced, and the of fools will destroy them.But whoever listens to me will , completely , without fear of harm.”