Proverbs 1:1-33
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;a
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.b
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation;c the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginningd of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chainse about thy neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20 Wisdomf crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
The Book of Proverbs is one of the wisdom books of the Hebrew people. Emotionally and fundamentally, wisdom is the fear of God; intellectually, a knowledge of the manifestations of the divine wisdom; and, volitionally, obedience rendered thereto.
The first verse of this chapter constitutes the title of this Book, and the following six verses contain what we today would speak of as preface. That preface first declares the purpose of the Book in terms so simple as to need no comment (verses Pro 1:3-5). Then follows a statement of method, which is necessary to a right use of the whole Book (verses Pro 1:6-7). The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The facts of God, and man's relation to Him, must be taken for granted and answered if there is to be any true wisdom. After the preface, the first section of the Book contains general instructions on wisdom which prepare the way for the Proverbs themselves, which come later.
The first instruction is a parental counsel, in which the wisdom of recognizing true friends is set forth in words which urge the habit of loyalty to father and mother; and the folly of forming false friendships is set forth in a series of warnings against them. This wisdom is personified, and her first call is written. It is, first, an appeal to turn from simplicity and scorning and hatred of knowledge, with the promise that she will give knowledge (verses Pro 1:22-23). This is followed by a warning that wisdom neglected at last refuses to answer (verses Pro 1:24-32). The call ends with a repeated promise of blessing to those who attend.