Prologue

¹ Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

² To know wisdom and instruction, to understand sayings of understanding,

³ to gain ⌞insightful instruction⌟,¹ righteousness and justice and equity,

1. Literally “the instruction of insight”

⁴ to give shrewdness¹ to the simple, knowledge and purpose² to the young,

1. Or “cleverness,” or “prudence”
2. Or “plan”

⁵ may the wise hear and increase learning, and the one who understands gain direction,¹

1. Or “guidance”

⁶ to understand a proverb and an expression, words of wisdom and their riddles.

Lecture Against Gang Behavior

⁷ Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction, fools despise.

⁸ My child, may you keep¹ your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teachings,

1. Or “obey,” or “hear”

⁹ for they are a garland of favor for your head, and pendants for your neck.

¹⁰ My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

¹¹ If they say, “Come with us! We shall lie in wait for blood; we shall ambush the innocent without cause.¹

1. Or “wantonly,” or “for nothing”

¹² Like Sheol,¹ we will swallow them alive and whole, ⌞like those who descend to the pit⌟.²

1. A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
2. Literally “like the descenders of a pit”

¹³ We shall find all precious wealth, we shall fill our houses with booty,

¹⁴ you shall throw your lot in our midst, there will be one purse for all of us.”

¹⁵ My child, do not walk in their way.¹ Keep your foot from their paths,

1. Or “on their road”

¹⁶ for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood,

¹⁷ for “in vain¹ is the net scattered, in the sight of any ⌞winged bird⌟.”²

1. Or “without cause,” or “for nothing”
2. Literally “bird of wing”

¹⁸ They lie in wait for their own blood. They ambush their own lives.

The Call of Lady Wisdom

¹⁹ Thus are the ways of all who are greedy for gain— it will take the life of its possessors.

²⁰ Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the squares she raises her voice.

²¹ On a ⌞busy corner⌟¹ she cries out, at the entrances of the gates in the city, she speaks her sayings:

1. Literally “head of commotion,” or “head of stirring, bustling”

²² “⌞How long⌟,¹ O simple ones, will you love simplicity? And how long will scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?

1. Literally “Until when”

²³ May you turn to my argument!¹ Behold, I shall pour out my spirit upon you; I will make my words known to you.

1. Or “turn at my reproach”

²⁴ Because I called out and you refused me, I stretched out my hand, yet there is none who heeds.

²⁵ You have ignored all my counsel, and my reproof you are not willing to accept.

²⁶ I will also laugh at your calamity;¹ I will mock when panic² comes upon you.

1. Or “downfall”
2. Or “dread, fear”

²⁷ When your panic comes like a storm, and your calamity arrives like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you,

²⁸ then they will call¹ me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but not find me.

1. Or “cry out to”

²⁹ Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,

³⁰ they were not willing to accept my counsel, they despised all my reproof.

³¹ They shall eat from the fruit of their way, and they shall be sated from their own schemes,

³² for the waywardness of the simple ones will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

³³ Whoever listens to me will dwell in security and rest securely¹ from dread and disaster.”

1. Or “be at ease, peace”