Proverbs 1 · Clearspring

The Beginning of Knowledge

¹These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,+ ²for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,+ ³and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.+ ⁴To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young,+ ⁵let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel+ ⁶by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.+ ⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.+

The Enticement of Sin

⁸Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.+ ⁹For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.+ ¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.+ ¹¹If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,+ ¹²let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.+ ¹³We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.+ ¹⁴Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse” — ¹⁵my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.+ ¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.+ ¹⁷How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!+ ¹⁸But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.+ ¹⁹Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.+

Wisdom Calls Aloud

²⁰Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;+ ²¹in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech:+ ²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?+ ²³If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.+ ²⁴Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,+ ²⁵because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,+ ²⁶in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,+ ²⁷when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.+ ²⁸Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.+ ²⁹For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.+ ³⁰They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.+ ³¹So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.+ ³²For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.+ ³³But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”+

The Beginning of Knowledge

The Enticement of Sin

Wisdom Calls Aloud

Study Proverbs 1