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משלי

PROVERBS

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

²To know wisdom and instruction;

To comprehend the words of understanding;

³To receive the discipline of wisdom,

Justice, and right, and equity;

⁴To give prudence to the simple,

To the young man knowledge and discretion;

⁵That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning,

And the man of understanding may attain unto wise counsels;

⁶To understand a proverb, and a figure;

The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

 

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

But the foolish despise wisdom and discipline.

 

⁸Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father,

And forsake not the teaching of thy mother;

⁹For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,

And chains about thy neck.

 

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee,

Consent thou not.

¹¹If they say: 'Come with us,

Let us lie in wait for blood,

Let us lurk for the innocent without cause;

¹²Let us swallow them up alive as the grave,

And whole, as those that go down into the pit;

¹³We shall find all precious substance,

We shall fill our houses with spoil;

¹⁴Cast in thy lot among us;

Let us all have one purse'—

¹⁵My son, walk not thou in the way with them,

Restrain thy foot from their path;

¹⁶For their feet run to evil,

And they make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷For in vain the net is spread

In the eyes of any bird;

¹⁸And these lie in wait for their own blood,

They lurk for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;

It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

 

²⁰Wisdom crieth aloud in the street,

She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

²¹She calleth at the head of the noisy streets,

At the entrances of the gates, in the city, she uttereth her words:

²²'How long, ye thoughtless, will ye love thoughtlessness?

And how long will scorners delight them in scorning,

And fools hate knowledge?

²³Turn you at my reproof;

Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,

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