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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,^[a]
    righteousness and justice and equity,
⁴ to give shrewdness^[b] to the simple,
    knowledge and purpose^[c] to the young,
⁵ may the wise hear and increase learning,
    and the one who understands gain direction,^[d]
6 to understand a proverb and an expression,
    words of wisdom and their riddles.
⁷ Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge;
    wisdom and instruction, fools despise.

⁸ My child, may you keep^[e] your father's instruction,
    and do not reject your mother's teachings,
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.^[f]
12 Like Sheol,^[g] we will swallow them alive
    and whole, like those who descend to the pit.^[h]
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.^[i]
    Keep your foot from their paths,
¹⁶ for their feet run to evil,
    and they hurry to shed blood,
¹⁷ for "in vain^[j] is the net scattered,
    in the sight of any winged bird."^[k]
18 They lie in wait for their own blood.
    They ambush their own lives.
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^[l] she cries out,
    at the entrances of the gates in the city, she speaks her sayings:
²² "How long,^[m] O simple ones, will you love simplicity?
    And how long will scoffers delight in their scoffing,
    and fools hate knowledge?
²³ May you turn to my argument!^[n]
    Behold, I shall pour out my spirit upon you;
    I will make my words known to you.
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;^[o]
    I will mock when panic^[p] comes upon you.
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 call^[q] me, but I will not answer;
    they will seek me diligently but not find me.
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 securely^[r] from dread and disaster."