¹ I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall flee of them shall not be delivered.

² Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.

³ And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence : and though they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall bite them.

⁴ And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

⁵ And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt.

⁶ He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.

⁷ Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?

⁸ Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

⁹ For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.

¹⁰ All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.

¹¹ In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.

¹² That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations, because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these things.

¹³ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.

¹⁴ And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.

¹ The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

² To know wisdom, and instruction:

³ To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:

⁴ To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding.

⁵ A wise man shall hear and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth, shall possess governments.

⁶ He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother :

⁹ That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them.

¹¹ If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:

¹² Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit.

¹³ We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils.

¹⁴ Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.

¹⁵ My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths.

¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷ But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.

¹⁸ And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls.

¹⁹ So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.

²⁰ Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:

²¹ At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:

²² O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?

²³ Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.

²⁴ Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded.

²⁵ You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions.

²⁶ I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.

²⁷ When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you:

²⁸ Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me:

²⁹ Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord,

³⁰ Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof.

³¹ Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices.

³² The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

³³ But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.