Proverbs 1
Expanded Bible
The Importance of Proverbs
1 These are the ·wise words [proverbs] of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.
2 They teach wisdom and ·self-control [discipline; instruction];
they will help you understand ·wise words [insightful sayings].
3 They will teach you how to be ·wise [insightful] and ·self-controlled [disciplined]
and will teach you to do what is ·honest [righteous] and ·fair [just] and ·right [virtuous].
4 They make the ·uneducated [simpleminded; immature; naive] ·wise [prudent]
and give knowledge and ·sense [discretion] to the young.
5 Wise people can also listen and ·learn [add/increase teaching];
even ·they [L those with understanding] can find good ·advice in these words [guidance].
6 Then ·anyone [L they] can understand ·wise words [proverbs] and ·stories [or difficult sayings],
the words of the wise and their ·riddles [difficulties].
7 Knowledge begins with ·respect [fear; awe] for the Lord,
but fools ·hate [despise] wisdom and ·discipline [self-control; instruction].
Warnings Against Evil
8 My ·child [L son], listen to your father’s ·teaching [instruction; discipline]
and do not ·forget [neglect] your mother’s ·advice [instruction].
9 [L For] ·Their teaching [L It] will be like ·flowers in your hair [L a gracious garland on your head]
or ·a necklace [L beads] around your neck.
10 My ·child [L son], if sinners try to ·lead [seduce; entice] you into sin,
do not follow them.
11 They will say, “Come with us.
Let’s ambush and kill someone;
let’s attack some innocent people just for fun.
12 Let’s swallow them alive, ·as death does [like the grave/L Sheol];
let’s swallow them whole, ·as the grave does [L like those who go down into the pit].
13 We will ·take [L find] all kinds of ·valuable things [L precious wealth]
and fill our houses with ·stolen goods [plunder].
14 ·Come join us [L Throw in your lot with us],
and we will share ·with you stolen goods [L a single bag (of loot)].”
15 My ·child [L son], do not go ·along with them [L on their path];
·do not do what they do [L keep your foot from their way/path].
16 ·They are eager to do evil [L For their feet run toward evil]
and are quick to ·kill [L shed blood].
17 It is useless to spread out a net
right where the birds can see it.
18 But sinners will ·fall into their own traps [L set up a deadly ambush];
they ·will only catch [L lie in wait for] themselves!
19 All greedy people end up this way;
·greed kills selfish people [L they take their own lives].
Wisdom Speaks
20 Wisdom [C the personification of God’s wisdom; 8:1–36; 9:1–6] ·is like a woman shouting [L shouts] in the street;
she ·raises her voice [yells out] in the city squares [C the hub for business, government, and social interaction].
21 She cries out ·in the noisy street [L at the top of the noisy throng]
and shouts at the [L entrances of] city gates:
22 “You ·fools [simpletons; immature ones], how long will you be ·foolish [immature]?
How long will you make ·fun of wisdom [mocking so dear to you]
and hate knowledge?
23 If only you had ·listened [responded] when I corrected you,
I would have ·told you what’s in my heart [L poured forth my spirit to you];
I would have ·told you what I am thinking [L revealed my words to you].
24 I called, but you ·refused to listen [rejected me];
I held out my hand, but you paid no attention.
25 You ·did not follow [ignored] my advice
and did not ·listen when I corrected [want me to correct] you.
26 So I will laugh ·when you are in trouble [L at your calamity].
I will ·make fun [ridicule you] when disaster strikes you,
27 when ·disaster [dread] comes over you like a ·storm [tempest],
when trouble strikes you like a whirlwind,
when ·pain [distress] and ·trouble [oppression] overwhelm you.
28 “Then you will call to me,
but I will not answer.
You will ·look for [seek] me,
but you will not find me.
29 It is because you ·rejected [hated] knowledge
and did not choose to ·respect [fear; hold in awe] the Lord.
30 You did not ·accept [want] my advice,
and you rejected my correction.
31 So you will ·get what you deserve [L eat from the fruit of your path];
you will ·get what you planned for others [or be satisfied with your own counsel].
32 ·Fools [The simple/immature] will die because they ·refuse to listen [L turn away];
·they [L fools] will be destroyed because ·they do not care [of complacency].
33 But those who ·listen to [obey] me will live in safety
·and be at peace, without fear of injury [untroubled by the dread of harm].”
Proverbs 1
King James Version
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;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
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; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning 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 chains 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 Wisdom 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.
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