Tuesday 11th October 2022

Proverbs

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

Prologue

² For learning about wisdom and instruction,
   for understanding words of insight,
³ for gaining instruction in wise dealing,
   righteousness, justice, and equity;
⁴ to teach shrewdness to the simple,
   knowledge and prudence to the young—
⁵ let the wise also hear and gain in learning,
   and the discerning acquire skill,
⁶ to understand a proverb and a figure,
   the words of the wise and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
   fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Warnings against Evil Companions

⁸ Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
   and do not reject your mother’s teaching;
⁹ for they are a fair garland for your head,
   and pendants for your neck.
¹⁰ My child, if sinners entice you,
   do not consent.
¹¹ If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
   let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
¹² like Sheol let us swallow them alive
   and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.
¹³ We shall find all kinds of costly things;
   we shall fill our houses with booty.
¹⁴ Throw in your lot among us;
   we will all have one purse’—
¹⁵ my child, do not walk in their way,
   keep your foot from their paths;
¹⁶ for their feet run to evil,
   and they hurry to shed blood.
¹⁷ For in vain is the net baited
   while the bird is looking on;
¹⁸ yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves!
   and set an ambush—for their own lives!
¹⁹ Such is the end^* of all who are greedy for gain;
   it takes away the life of its possessors.

The Call of Wisdom

²⁰ Wisdom cries out in the street;
   in the squares she raises her voice.
²¹ At the busiest corner she cries out;
   at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
²² ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
   and fools hate knowledge?
²³ Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
   I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I have called and you refused,
   have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
²⁵ and because you have ignored all my counsel
   and would have none of my reproof,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
   I will mock when panic strikes you,
²⁷ when panic strikes you like a storm,
   and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
   when distress and anguish come upon you.
²⁸ Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
   they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
²⁹ Because they hated knowledge
   and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
³⁰ would have none of my counsel,
   and despised all my reproof,
³¹ therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
   and be sated with their own devices.
³² For waywardness kills the simple,
   and the complacency of fools destroys them;
³³ but those who listen to me will be secure
   and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.’

NRSV