1: Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
2: For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
3: For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
4: He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
5: Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6: Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
7: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
8: Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
9: She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
10: Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
11: I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.
12: When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
13: Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
14: Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15: Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16: For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17: For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18: But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19: The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
20: My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21: Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22: For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
24: Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
25: Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26: Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27: Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

1: My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3: For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5: Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6: Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them.
7: Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8: Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9: Lest thy give thine honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors be in the house of a stranger;
11: And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12: And say, how have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13: And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14: I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15: Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16: Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17: Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18: Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19: Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20: And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21: For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22: His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23: He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

1: Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
2: He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.
3: In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
4: Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
5: A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.
6: A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.
7: Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
8: The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.
9: Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.
10: The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
11: The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.
12: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
13: Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
14: The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
15: The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
16: A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
17: He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.
18: The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
19: The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
20: The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends.
21: He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.
22: Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.
23: In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
24: The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.
25: A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.
26: In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
27: The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
28: In the multitude of people is the king's honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
29: He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
30: A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.
31: He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
32: The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
33: Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.
34: Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
35: The king's favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.

1: When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3: Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
4: Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5: Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6: Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8: The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9: Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10: Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11: For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
12: Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13: Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
14: Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15: My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16: Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
17: Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
18: For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19: Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
20: Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
21: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22: Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23: Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24: The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
25: Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
26: My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27: For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28: She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
29: Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30: They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31: Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
32: At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33: Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34: Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35: They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

1: These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
2: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
3: The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable.
4: Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.
5: Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
6: Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men:
7: For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.
8: Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
9: Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:
10: Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away.
11: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
12: As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
13: As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.
14: Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
15: By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
16: Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
17: Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.
18: A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.
19: Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.
20: As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
21: If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
23: The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
24: It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.
25: As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
26: A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.
27: It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.
28: He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.