Proverbs 1
1 These are the (proverbs/wise sayings) that come from Solomon, the King of Israel, who was the son of [King] David.
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 (These proverbs [PRS] can teach people/By studying these proverbs, people can learn) how to be wise and how to obey what these proverbs teach them. They will [also] help people to understand which teachings are wise.
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 These proverbs [PRS] will teach you how to discipline/control yourselves, how to conduct your lives, and how to do what is right and just [DOU].
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 They will show [people] who do not [yet] know much how to do things that are smart. They will show young people how to become wise and how to make good plans/decisions.
To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5 Those who are wise should also pay attention [to these proverbs], in order to become more wise, and those who understand [these teachings] will receive good advice/guidance.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 Then they will be able to understand the meaning of proverbs and parables/metaphors, these wise sayings and (riddles/sayings that are difficult to understand).
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7 If [you want to be] wise, you must begin by revering Yahweh. [Only] foolish people despise wisdom and good advice/discipline.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, pay attention to what [I], your father, am teaching you. And do not reject what your mother teaches you.
My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother:
9 What we teach you [will make you respected like having] a lovely turban around your head and [like] a [beautiful] necklace to put around your neck.
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto your head, and chains about your neck.
10 My son, if sinners tempt/entice you [to do what is wrong], say “No” to them.
My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not.
11 They may say, “Come with us! Join us! We will hide and then kill [MTY] someone [who passes by]. We will ambush some helpless/innocent people.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause:
12 We will kill them [HYP] and get rid of them completely, [just] like [people who are buried in] graves are gone forever. While they are in good health, we will send them to the place where dead people are. (Sheol h7585)
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: (Sheol h7585)
13 And we will seize all the things that they own. We will fill our houses with these things!
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 [So], come with us! Join our group! We will share with you the things that we steal.”
Cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15 My son, do not accompany them! Do not walk on the roads with them!
My son, walk not you in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path:
16 They rush to do evil deeds! They hurry to murder [MTY] people.
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 It is useless to put out a (trap/net to catch a bird) because when a bird sees it, [it stays away from it].
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18 But those wicked people are not like the birds, [because they do not realize] that when they prepare to ambush someone to kill him, they will be killed themselves!
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privately for their own lives.
19 That is what happens to people who eagerly try to get things [by violently attacking others]. They will only destroy themselves!
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of the owners thereof.
20 Wisdom [PRS] shouts to people in the streets, and calls out to people in the (plazas/town squares).
Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets:
21 Wisdom calls out in noisy places, and at the entrances to cities.
She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying,
22 [Wisdom says], “How long will you stupid people continue to enjoy doing foolish things [RHQ]? How long will you people who ridicule God enjoy doing that [RHQ]? How long will you foolish people refuse to know [what things are right] [RHQ]?
How long, all of you simple ones, will all of you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you pay attention to me when I rebuke you, I will tell you what I am thinking in my inner being; I will give you some good advice.
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 But when I called to you, you refused to listen. I beckoned to you to come to me, but you ignored me.
Because I have called, and all of you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 I tried to advise you, but you refused to listen to me. I tried to correct you, but you rejected what I told you.
But all of you have set at nothing all my counsel, and refused my reproof:
26 So [now], when you are experiencing troubles/disasters, I will laugh at you. When things happen that cause you to be afraid, I will make fun of you.
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes;
27 When calamities strike you like a big storm, when disasters hit you like a violent wind, when [all kinds of things] distress you and give you trouble, [I will ridicule you!]
When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you.
28 [Wisdom also says], “When foolish people call to me [to help them], I will not answer them. They will search for me diligently/everywhere, but they will not find me.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 They refused to know [what things are right], and they decided not to revere Yahweh.
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would not accept my advice, and they did not pay attention when I tried to correct them.
They refused my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 So they will endure what will result [MET, DOU] from the evil way they have lived/behaved and the evil things they have planned to do.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 Those who turn away from me are stupid/foolish; they will die because of doing that.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But those who pay attention to me will live peacefully and safely, and they will not be afraid that something will harm them.”
But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
