The Beginning of Knowledge

(Ezra 4:6-16; Esther 1:1-9; Proverbs 9:1-12)

1Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

2For knowing wisdom and instruction, For understanding sayings of intelligence,

3For receiving the instruction of wisdom, Righteousness, judgment, and uprightness,

4For giving to simple ones -- prudence, To a youth -- knowledge and discretion.

5(The wise doth hear and increaseth learning, And the intelligent doth obtain counsels.)

6For understanding a proverb and its sweetness, Words of the wise and their acute sayings.

7Fear of Jehovah is a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!

The Enticement of Sin

8Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother,

9For a graceful wreath are they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.

10My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing.

11If they say, 'Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,

12We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down to the pit,

13Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses with spoil,

14Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.'

15My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path,

16For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood.

17Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.

18And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives.

19So are the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.

Wisdom Calls Aloud

20Wisdom in an out-place crieth aloud, In broad places she giveth forth her voice,

21At the head of the multitudes she calleth, In the openings of the gates, In the city her sayings she saith:

22'Till when, ye simple, do ye love simplicity? And have scorners their scorning desired? And do fools hate knowledge?

23Turn back at my reproof, lo, I pour forth to you my spirit, I make known my words with you.

24Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending,

25And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.

26I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,

27When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress.

28Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.

29Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen.

30They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof,

31And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.

32For the turning of the simple slayeth them, And the security of the foolish destroyeth them.

33And whoso is hearkening to me dwelleth confidently, And is quiet from fear of evil!'