¹ The wise sayings of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

² To have knowledge of wise teaching; to be clear about the words of reason:

³ To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour:

⁴ To make the simple-minded sharp, and to give the young man knowledge, and serious purpose:

⁵ (The wise man, hearing, will get greater learning, and the acts of the man of good sense will be wisely guided:)

⁶ To get the sense of wise sayings and secrets, and of the words of the wise and their dark sayings.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.

⁸ My son, give ear to the training of your father, and do not give up the teaching of your mother:

⁹ For they will be a crown of grace for your head, and chain-ornaments about your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners would take you out of the right way, do not go with them.

¹¹ If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause;

¹² Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death;

¹³ Goods of great price will be ours, our houses will be full of wealth;

¹⁴ Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:

¹⁵ My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways:

¹⁶ For their feet are running after evil, and they are quick to take a man's life.

¹⁷ Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird:

¹⁸ And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves.

¹⁹ Such is the fate of everyone who goes in search of profit; it takes away the life of its owners.

²⁰ Wisdom is crying out in the street; her voice is loud in the open places;

²¹ Her words are sounding in the meeting-places, and in the doorways of the town:

²² How long, you simple ones, will foolish things be dear to you? and pride a delight to the haters of authority? how long will the foolish go on hating knowledge?

²³ Be turned again by my sharp words: see, I will send the flow of my spirit on you, and make my words clear to you.

²⁴ Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;

²⁵ You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:

²⁶ So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear;

²⁷ When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you.

²⁸ Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:

²⁹ For they were haters of knowledge, and did not give their hearts to the fear of the Lord:

³⁰ They had no desire for my teaching, and my words of protest were as nothing to them.

³¹ So the fruit of their way will be their food, and with the designs of their hearts they will be made full.

³² For the turning back of the simple from teaching will be the cause of their death, and the peace of the foolish will be their destruction.

³³ But whoever gives ear to me will take his rest safely, living in peace without fear of evil.

¹ Better is the poor man whose ways are upright, than the man of wealth whose ways are twisted.

² Further, without knowledge desire is not good; and he who is over-quick in acting goes out of the right way.

³ By his foolish behaviour a man's ways are turned upside down, and his heart is bitter against the Lord.

⁴ Wealth makes a great number of friends; but the poor man is parted from his friend.

⁵ A false witness will not go without punishment, and the breather out of deceit will not go free.

⁶ Great numbers will make attempts to get the approval of a ruler: and every man is the special friend of him who has something to give.

⁷ All the brothers of the poor man are against him: how much more do his friends go far from him! ...

⁸ He who gets wisdom has love for his soul: he who keeps good sense will get what is truly good.

⁹ A false witness will not go without punishment, and the breather out of deceit will be cut off.

¹⁰ Material comfort is not good for the foolish; much less for a servant to be put over rulers.

¹¹ A man's good sense makes him slow to wrath, and the overlooking of wrongdoing is his glory.

¹² The king's wrath is like the loud cry of a lion, but his approval is like dew on the grass.

¹³ A foolish son is the destruction of his father; and the bitter arguments of a wife are like drops of rain falling without end.

¹⁴ House and wealth are a heritage from fathers, but a wife with good sense is from the Lord.

¹⁵ Hate of work sends deep sleep on a man: and he who has no industry will go without food.

¹⁶ He who keeps the law keeps his soul; but death will be the fate of him who takes no note of the word.

¹⁷ He who has pity on the poor gives to the Lord, and the Lord will give him his reward.

¹⁸ Give your son training while there is hope; let not your heart be purposing his death.

¹⁹ A man of great wrath will have to take his punishment: for if you get him out of trouble you will have to do it again.

²⁰ Let your ear be open to suggestion and take teaching, so that at the end you may be wise.

²¹ A man's heart may be full of designs, but the purpose of the Lord is unchanging.

²² The ornament of a man is his mercy, and a poor man is better than one who is false.

²³ The fear of the Lord gives life: and he who has it will have need of nothing; no evil will come his way.

²⁴ The hater of work puts his hand deep into the basin, and will not even take it to his mouth again.

²⁵ When blows overtake the man of pride, the simple will get sense; say sharp words to the wise, and knowledge will be made clear to him.

²⁶ He who is violent to his father, driving away his mother, is a son causing shame and a bad name.

²⁷ A son who no longer gives attention to teaching is turned away from the words of knowledge.

²⁸ A good-for-nothing witness makes sport of the judge's decision: and the mouth of evil-doers sends out evil like a stream.

²⁹ Rods are being made ready for the man of pride, and blows for the back of the foolish.