1901 American Standard Version (ASV)

Proverbs 1

1 The use of the proverbs. 7 An exhortation to fear God, and believe his Word. 10 To avoid the enticings of sinners. 20 Wisdom complaineth of her contempt. 24 She threateneth her contemners.

 1:1 ¶ The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

 1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;

 1:3 To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

 1:4 To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:

 1:5 That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

 1:6 To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

 1:7 ¶ The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:

 1:9 For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

 1:10 ¶ My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not.

 1:11 If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

 1:12 Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, And whole, as those that go down into the pit;

 1:13 We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil;

 1:14 Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; We will all have one purse:

 1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

 1:16 For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

 1:17 For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

 1:18 And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.

 1:19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

 1:20 ¶ Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

 1:21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words:

 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?

 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you.

 1:24 ¶ Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

 1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:

 1:26 I also will laugh in [the day of] your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

 1:27 When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you.

 1:28 Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:

 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:

 1:30 They would none of my counsel; They despised all my reproof.

 1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices.

 1:32 For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.