A Father’s Wise Instruction
1 Hear, O sons, a father’s rinstruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain1 insight,
2 for I give you good precepts;
sdo not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me,
“Let your theart hold fast my words;
ukeep my commandments, vand live.
5 wGet wisdom; get insight;
xdo not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will yguard you.
7 The zbeginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head a agraceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”
10 Hear, my son, and baccept my words,
that the years of your life may be cmany.
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the dpaths of uprightness.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 eKeep hold of finstruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your glife.
14 Do not enter the hpath of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
16 For ithey cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is jlike the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until kfull day.
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.
20 My son, be lattentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 mLet them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and nhealing to all their2 flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
ofor from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you pcrooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 qLet your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 rPonder3 the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve sto the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
Warning Against Adultery
1 My son, be tattentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may keep discretion,
and uyour lips may guard knowledge.
3 vFor the lips of a forbidden1 woman drip honey,
and wher speech2 is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 xHer feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to3 Sheol;
6 she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And now, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 yKeep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, “How I zhated adiscipline,
and my heart bdespised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your csprings be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated4 always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?5
21 For da man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he eponders6 all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.
Practical Warnings
1 My son, if you have fput up security for your neighbor,
have given your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are gsnared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten,1 and plead urgently with your neighbor.
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,2
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 jGo to the kant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 lWithout having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread min summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 nA little sleep, a little slumber,
a little ofolding of the hands to rest,
11 and ppoverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with qcrooked speech,
13 rwinks with his eyes, signals3 with his feet,
spoints with his finger,
14 with perverted heart tdevises evil,
continually sowing udiscord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
vin a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
16 There are wsix things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
xfeet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who ybreathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Warnings Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your zfather’s commandment,
and aforsake not byour mother’s teaching.
21 cBind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
22 dWhen you walk, they4 will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is a elamp and the teaching a light,
and the freproofs of gdiscipline are the way of life,
24 hto preserve you from the evil woman,5
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.6
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you iwith her eyelashes;
26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,7
but a married woman8 hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry jfire next to his chest
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals
and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to khis neighbor’s wife;
none who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but lif he is caught, he will pay msevenfold;
he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who ncommits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For ojealousy makes a man furious,
and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
