Proverbs 4-6

Proverbs 4

¹Hear, ye sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention to know understanding.

²For good learning I have given to you, My law forsake not.

³For, a son I have been to my father -- tender, And an only one before my mother.

⁴And he directeth me, and he saith to me: ‘Let thy heart retain my words, Keep my commands, and live.

⁵Get wisdom, get understanding, Do not forget, nor turn away From the sayings of my mouth.

⁶Forsake her not, and she doth preserve thee, Love her, and she doth keep thee.

⁷The first thing is wisdom -- get wisdom, And with all thy getting get understanding.

⁸Exalt her, and she doth lift thee up, She honoureth thee, when thou dost embrace her.

⁹She giveth to thy head a wreath of grace, A crown of beauty she doth give thee freely.

¹⁰Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And years of life are multiplied to thee.

¹¹In a way of wisdom I have directed thee, I have caused thee to tread in paths of uprightness.

¹²In thy walking thy step is not straitened, And if thou runnest, thou stumblest not.

¹³Lay hold on instruction, do not desist, Keep her, for she is thy life.

¹⁴Into the path of the wicked enter not, And be not happy in a way of evil doers.

¹⁵Avoid it, pass not over into it, Turn aside from it, and pass on.

¹⁶For they sleep not if they do not evil, And their sleep hath been taken violently away, If they cause not some to stumble.

¹⁷For they have eaten bread of wickedness, And wine of violence they drink.

¹⁸And the path of the righteous is as a shining light, Going and brightening till the day is established,

¹⁹The way of the wicked is as darkness, They have not known at what they stumble.

²⁰My son, to my words give attention, To my sayings incline thine ear,

²¹Let them not turn aside from thine eyes, Preserve them in the midst of thy heart.

²²For life they are to those finding them, And to all their flesh healing.

²³Above every charge keep thy heart, For out of it are the outgoings of life.

²⁴Turn aside from thee a froward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee,

²⁵Thine eyes do look straightforward, And thine eyelids look straight before thee.

²⁶Ponder thou the path of thy feet, And all thy ways are established.

²⁷Incline not to the right or to the left, Turn aside thy foot from evil!

Proverbs 5

¹My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,

²To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.

³For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil is her mouth,

⁴And her latter end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword with mouths.

⁵Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of.

⁶The path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not.

⁷And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.

⁸Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,

⁹Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,

¹⁰Lest strangers be filled with thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,

¹¹And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,

¹²And hast said, ‘How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,

¹³And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.

¹⁴As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.

¹⁵Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.

¹⁶Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.

¹⁷Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.

¹⁸Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,

¹⁹A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.

²⁰And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?

²¹For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.

²²His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.

²³He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!

Proverbs 6

¹My son! if thou hast been surety for thy friend, Hast stricken for a stranger thy hand,

²Hast been snared with sayings of thy mouth, Hast been captured with sayings of thy mouth,

³Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend,

⁴Give not sleep to thine eyes, And slumber to thine eyelids,

⁵Be delivered as a roe from the hand, And as a bird from the hand of a fowler.

⁶Go unto the ant, O slothful one, See her ways and be wise;

⁷Which hath not captain, overseer, and ruler,

⁸She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.

⁹Till when, O slothful one, dost thou lie? When dost thou arise from thy sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, A little clasping of the hands to rest,

¹¹And thy poverty hath come as a traveller, And thy want as an armed man.

¹²A man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking with perverseness of mouth,

¹³Winking with his eyes, speaking with his feet, Directing with his fingers,

¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, devising evil at all times, Contentions he sendeth forth.

¹⁵Therefore suddenly cometh his calamity, Instantly he is broken -- and no healing.

¹⁶These six hath Jehovah hated, Yea, seven are abominations to His soul.

¹⁷Eyes high -- tongues false -- And hands shedding innocent blood --

¹⁸A heart devising thoughts of vanity -- Feet hasting to run to evil --

¹⁹A false witness who doth breathe out lies -- And one sending forth contentions between brethren.

²⁰Keep, my son, the command of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother.

²¹Bind them on thy heart continually, Tie them on thy neck.

²²In thy going up and down, it leadeth thee, In thy lying down, it watcheth over thee, And thou hast awaked -- it talketh with thee.

²³For a lamp is the command, And the law a light, And a way of life are reproofs of instruction,

²⁴To preserve thee from an evil woman, From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

²⁵Desire not her beauty in thy heart, And let her not take thee with her eyelids.

²⁶For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.

²⁷Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?

²⁸Doth a man walk on the hot coals, And are his feet not scorched?

²⁹So is he who hath gone in unto the wife of his neighbour, None who doth touch her is innocent.

³⁰They do not despise the thief, When he stealeth to fill his soul when he is hungry,

³¹And being found he repayeth sevenfold, All the substance of his house he giveth.

³²He who committeth adultery with a woman lacketh heart, He is destroying his soul who doth it.

³³A stroke and shame he doth find, And his reproach is not wiped away,

³⁴For jealousy is the fury of a man, And he doth not spare in a day of vengeance.

³⁵He accepteth not the appearance of any atonement, Yea, he doth not consent, Though thou dost multiply bribes!