The Bible, King James version, Book 20: Proverbs
Book 20 Proverbs
20:001:001 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
20:001:002 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
20:001:003 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
20:001:004 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
20:001:005 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
20:001:006 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
20:001:007 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
20:001:008 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
20:001:009 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
20:001:010 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
20:001:011 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
20:001:012 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
20:001:013 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
20:001:014 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
20:001:015 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
20:001:016 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
20:001:017 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
20:001:018 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
20:001:019 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20:001:020 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
20:001:021 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
20:001:022 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
20:001:023 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
20:001:024 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
20:001:025 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
20:001:026 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
20:001:027 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
20:001:028 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
20:001:029 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
20:001:030 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
20:001:031 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
20:001:032 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
20:001:033 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
20:002:001 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
20:002:002 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
20:002:003 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
20:002:004 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
20:002:005 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
20:002:006 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
20:002:007 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
20:002:008 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
20:002:009 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
20:002:010 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
20:002:011 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
20:002:012 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
20:002:013 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
20:002:014 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
20:002:015 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
20:002:016 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
20:002:017 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
20:002:018 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
20:002:019 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20:002:020 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
20:002:021 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
20:002:022 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
20:003:001 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
20:003:002 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
20:003:003 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
20:003:004 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
20:003:005 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
20:003:006 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
