Instruction and Exhortation to Sons: Proverbs
chapters 1 through 7
(In this series of Scripture we will included the entire Book of Proverbs setting the entire Book down here regarding the Books specific topics)
Part One of the Book of Proverbs – Instructions and Exhortations to sons:
Proverbs Chapters 1 through 7
Proverbs 1 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
1 The proverbs of Shlomo [Solomon]the son of David,
king of Isra’el [Israel],
2 are for learning about wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words expressing deep insight;
3 for gaining an intelligently disciplined life,
doing what is right, just and fair;
4 for endowing with caution those who don’t think
and the young person with knowledge and discretion.
5 Someone who is already wise
will hear and learn still more;
someone who already understands
will gain the ability to counsel well;
6 he will understand proverbs, obscure expressions,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of Adonai [God]is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
8 My son, heed the discipline of your father,
and do not abandon the teaching of your mother;
9 they will be a garland to grace your head,
a medal of honor for your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
don’t go along with them.
11 Suppose they say, “Come with us:
we’ll ambush somebody and kill him,
we’ll waylay some harmless soul, just for fun;
12 we’ll swallow him alive, like Sh’ol [grave],
whole, like those who descend to the pit;
13 we’ll find everything he has of value,
we’ll fill our homes with loot!
14 Throw in your lot with us;
we’ll share a common purse” —
15 my son, don’t go along with them,
don’t set foot on their path;
16 Their feet run to evil,
they rush to shed blood.
17 For in vain is the net baited
if any bird can see it;
18 rather, they are ambushing themselves
to shed their own blood, waylaying themselves.
19 So are the ways of all greedy for gain —
it takes the lives of those who get it.
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the open air
and raises her voice in the public places;
21 she calls out at street corners
and speaks out at entrances to city gates:
22 “How long, you whose lives have no purpose,
will you love thoughtless living?
How long will scorners find pleasure in mocking?
How long will fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent when I reprove —
I will pour out my spirit to you,
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because you refused when I called,
and no one paid attention when I put out my hand,
25 but instead you neglected my counsel
and would not accept my reproof;
26 I, in turn, will laugh at your distress,
and mock when terror comes over you —
27 yes, when terror overtakes you like a storm
and your disaster approaches like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble assail you.
28 Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
they will seek me earnestly, but they won’t find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of Adonai,
30 they refused my counsel
and despised my reproof.
31 So they will bear the consequences of their own way
and be overfilled with their own schemes.
32 For the aimless wandering of the thoughtless will kill them,
and the smug overconfidence of fools will destroy them;
33 but those who pay attention to me will live securely,
untroubled by fear of misfortune.”
Proverbs 2 – Instructions and Exhortations to sons continued
1 My son, if you will receive my words
and store my commands inside you,
2 paying attention to wisdom
inclining your mind toward understanding —
3 yes, if you will call for insight
and raise your voice for discernment,
4 if you seek it as you would silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure —
5 then you will understand the fear of Adonai
and find knowledge of God.
6 For Adonai gives wisdom;
from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up common sense for the upright,
is a shield to those whose conduct is blameless,
8 in order to guard the courses of justice
and preserve the way of those faithful to him.
9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
fairness and every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
knowledge will be enjoyable for you,
11 discretion will watch over you,
and discernment will guard you.
12 They will save you from the way of evil
and from those who speak deceitfully,
13 who leave the paths of honesty
to walk the ways of darkness,
14 who delight in doing evil
and take joy in being stubbornly deceitful,
15 from those whose tracks are twisted
and whose paths are perverse.
16 They will save you from a woman who is a stranger,
from a loose woman with smooth talk,
17 who abandons the ruler she had in her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 Her house is sinking toward death,
her paths lead to the dead.
19 None who go to her return;
they never regain the path to life.
20 Thus you will walk on the way of good people
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
the pure-hearted will remain there;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
the unfaithful rooted out of it.
Proverbs 3 – Instructions and Exhortations to sons continued
1 My son, don’t forget my teaching,
keep my commands in your heart;
2 for they will add to you many days,
years of life and peace.
3 Do not let grace and truth leave you —
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and esteem
in the sight of God and of people.
5 Trust in Adonai with all your heart;
do not rely on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him;
then he will level your paths.
7 Don’t be conceited about your own wisdom;
but fear Adonai, and turn from evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and give strength to your bones.
9 Honor Adonai with your wealth
and with the firstfruits of all your income.
10 Then your granaries will be filled
and your vats overflow with new wine.
11 My son, don’t despise Adonai’s discipline
or resent his reproof;
12 for Adonai corrects those he loves
like a father who delights in his son.
13 Happy the person who finds wisdom,
the person who acquires understanding;
14 for her profit exceeds that of silver,
gaining her is better than gold,
15 she is more precious than pearls —
nothing you want can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand,
riches and honor in her left.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who grasp her;
whoever holds fast to her will be made happy.
19 Adonai by wisdom founded the earth,
by understanding he established the heavens,
20 by his knowledge the deep [springs] burst open
and the dew condenses from the sky.
21 My son, don’t let these slip from your sight;
preserve common sense and discretion;
22 they will be life for your being
and grace for your neck.
23 Then you will walk your way securely,
without hurting your foot.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Don’t be afraid of sudden terror or destruction
caused by the wicked, when it comes;
26 for you can rely on Adonai;
he will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.
27 Don’t withhold good from someone entitled to it
when you have in hand the power to do it.
28 Don’t tell your neighbor, “Go away! Come another time;
I’ll give it to you tomorrow,” when you have it now.
29 Don’t plan harm against your neighbor
who lives beside you trustingly.
30 Don’t quarrel with someone for no reason,
if he has done you no harm.
31 Don’t envy a man of violence,
don’t choose any of his ways;
32 for the perverse is an abomination to Adonai,
but he shares his secret counsel with the upright.
33 Adonai’s curse is in the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 The scornful he scorns,
but gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise win honor,
but fools win shame.
Proverbs 4 – Instructions and Exhortations to sons continued
1 Listen, children, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention, in order to gain insight;
2 for I am giving you good advice;
so don’t abandon my teaching.
3 For I too was once a child to my father;
and my mother, too, thought of me as her special darling.
4 He too taught me; he said to me,
“Let your heart treasure my words;
keep my commands, and live;
5 gain wisdom, gain insight;
don’t forget or turn from the words I am saying.
6 Don’t abandon [wisdom]; then she will preserve you;
love her, and she will protect you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom!
And along with all your getting, get insight!
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will bring you honor;
9 she will give your head a garland of grace,
bestow on you a crown of glory.”
10 Listen, my son, receive what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I’m directing you on the way of wisdom,
guiding you in paths of uprightness;
12 when you walk, your step won’t be hindered;
and if you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Hold fast to discipline, don’t let it go;
guard it, for it is your life.
14 Don’t follow the path of the wicked
or walk on the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, don’t go on it,
turn away from it, and pass on.
16 For they can’t sleep if they haven’t done evil,
they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining ever brighter until full daylight.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness;
they don’t even know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to what I am saying;
incline your ear to my words.
21 Don’t let them out of your sight,
keep them deep in your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to their whole being.
23 Above everything else, guard your heart;
for it is the source of life’s consequences.
24 Keep crooked speech out of your mouth,
banish deceit from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze on what lies in front of you.
26 Level the path for your feet,
let all your ways be properly prepared;
27 then deviate neither right nor left;
and keep your foot far from evil.
Proverbs 5 – Instructions and exhortations to sons continued
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding;
2 so that you will preserve discretion
and your lips keep watch over knowledge.
3 For the lips of a woman who is a stranger drop honey,
her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
her steps lead straight to Sh’ol;
6 she doesn’t walk the level path of life —
her course wanders all over, but she doesn’t know it.
7 So now, children, listen to me;
don’t turn away from what I am saying:
8 distance your way from her,
stay far from the door of her house;
9 so that you won’t give your vigor to others
and your years to someone who is cruel,
10 so strangers won’t be filled with your strength
and what you worked for go to a foreign house.
11 Then, when your flesh and bones have shrunk,
at the end of your life, you would moan,
12 “How I hated discipline!
My whole being despised reproof,
13 I ignored what my teachers said,
I didn’t listen to my instructors.
14 I took part in almost every kind of evil,
and the whole community knew it.”
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,
fresh water from your own well.
16 Let what your springs produce be dispersed outside,
streams of water flowing in the streets;
17 but let them be for you alone
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain, the wife of your youth,
be blessed; find joy in her —
19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn;
let her breasts satisfy you at all times,
always be infatuated with her love.
20 My son, why be infatuated with an unknown woman?
Why embrace the body of a loose woman?
21 For Adonai is watching a man’s ways;
he surveys all his paths.
22 A wicked person’s own crimes will trap him,
he will be held fast by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die from lack of discipline;
the magnitude of his folly will make him totter and fall.
Proverbs 6 – Instructions and exhortations to sons continued
1 My son, if you have put up security for your friend,
if you committed yourself on behalf of another;
2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth,
caught by the words of your own mouth.
3 Do this now, my son, and extricate yourself,
since you put yourself in your friend’s power:
go, humble yourself, and pester your friend;
4 give your eyes no sleep,
give your eyelids no rest;
5 break free, like a gazelle from the [hunter’s] trap,
like a bird from the grip of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones!
Consider its ways, and be wise.
7 It has no chief, overseer or ruler;
8 yet it provides its food in summer
and gathers its supplies at harvest-time.
9 Lazybones! How long will you lie there in bed?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 “I’ll just lie here a bit, rest a little longer,
just fold my hands for a little more sleep” —
11 and poverty comes marching in on you,
scarcity hits you like an invading soldier.
12 A scoundrel, a vicious man,
lives by crooked speech,
13 winking his eyes, shuffling his feet,
pointing with his fingers.
14 With deceit in his heart,
he is always plotting evil and sowing discord.
15 Therefore disaster suddenly overcomes him;
unexpectedly, he is broken beyond repair.
16 There are six things Adonai hates,
seven which he detests:
17 a haughty look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet swift in running to do evil,
19 a false witness who lies with every breath,
and him who sows strife among brothers.
20 My son, obey your father’s command,
and don’t abandon your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart,
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you wake up, they will talk with you.
23 For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah is light,
and reproofs that discipline are the way to life.
24 They keep you from an evil woman,
from a loose woman’s seductive tongue.
25 Don’t let your heart lust after her beauty
or allow her glance to captivate you.
26 The price of a whore is a loaf of bread,
but the adulteress is hunting for a precious life.
27 Can a man carry fire inside his shirt
without burning his clothes?
28 Can a man walk [barefoot] on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So is he who has sex with his neighbor’s wife;
anyone touching her will be punished.
30 A thief is not despised if he steals
only to satisfy his appetite when hungry;
31 but even he, if caught, must pay back sevenfold;
he may have to give up all the wealth that he owns.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get nothing but blows and contempt,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy drives a man into a rage;
he will show no mercy when he takes revenge;
35 he will not accept compensation;
he’ll refuse every bribe, no matter how large.
Proverbs 7 – Conclusion of instructions and exhortations to sons
1 My son, keep my words,
store up my commands with you.
2 Obey my commands, and live;
guard my teaching like the pupil of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”;
call understanding your kinswoman;
5 so that they can keep you from unknown women,
from loose women with their seductive talk.
6 For I was at the window of my house,
glancing out through the lattice,
7 when I saw among the young men there,
among those who don’t think for themselves,
a young fellow devoid of all sense.
8 He crosses the street near her corner
and continues on toward her house.
9 Dusk turns into evening,
and finally night, dark and black.
10 Then a woman approaches him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
11 She’s the coarse, impulsive type,
whose feet don’t stay at home;
12 rather, she stalks the streets and squares,
lurking at every streetcorner.
13 She grabs him, gives him a kiss,
and, brazen-faced, she says to him,
14 “I had to offer peace sacrifices,
and I fulfilled my vows today.
15 This is why I came out to meet you,
to look for you; now I’ve found you.
16 I’ve spread quilts on my couch
made of colored Egyptian linen.
17 I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come on, let’s make love till morning;
we’ll enjoy making love.
19 My husband isn’t at home,
he’s gone on a long trip;
20 he took a bag of money with him
and won’t be back till the moon is full.”
21 With all her sweet talk she convinces him,
enticing him with her seductive words.
22 At once he follows her
like an ox on its way to be slaughtered;
like a fool to be punished in the stocks;
23 or like a bird rushing into a trap,
not knowing its life is at stake
till an arrow pierces its liver.
24 So now, children, listen to me;
pay attention to what I am saying.
25 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways;
don’t stray onto her paths.
26 For many are those she has struck down dead,
numerous those she has killed.
27 Her house is the way to Sh’ol;
it leads down to the halls of death.
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