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¶ THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
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To know wisdom and instruction;
to perceive the words of understanding;
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To receive discipline, reverence, righteousness, and justice, and equity;
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To give subtlety to the simple, to the young men knowledge and discretion.
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A wise man will listen and will increase learning;
and a man of understanding shall attain to leadership;
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To understand proverbs and figures of speech;
the words of the wise and their dark sayings.
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¶ The reverence of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
but fools despise knowledge and instruction.
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Hear, my son, the ordinance of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother;
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For they shall be an ornament of grace for your head and a necklace about your neck.
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¶ My son, if sinners entice you, consent not.
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If they say to you, Come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood, let us lie in wait for the innocent, wrongfully;
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Let us swallow them up alive, as Sheol swallows the living, and whole as those who go down into the pit;
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We shall find all his wealth and precious things, we shall fill our houses with spoil;
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Cast in your lot with us;
let us all have one purse;
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My son, do not walk in the way with them;
but refrain your foot from their path;
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For their feet run to evil, they make haste to shed blood.
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Surely in deceit is the net spread in the sight of any bird.
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And they lie in wait, they hide themselves to shed blood.
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Such are the ways of all who practice iniquity, who take away the life of their owners.
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Wisdom is glorified in the market places;
she raises her voice in the streets:
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She preaches in the chief places of the concourse;
in the openings of the gates of the city, she utters her words, saying,
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How long, you simple ones, will you love childishness?
And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
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If you will turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you;
I will make known my words to you.
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For I have called, and you refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and you did not listen:
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But you have despised all my counsels, and you were not pleased with my reproof.
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I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will rejoice when terror and sudden destruction come upon you;
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When your destruction comes as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish come upon you,
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Then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer them;
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me;
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Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the worship of the LORD.
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They were not pleased with my counsels;
they rejected all of my reproof.
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Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own ways and be filled with their own devices.
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For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the error of the weak-minded men shall destroy them.
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But he who listens to me shall live in hope, and shall refrain from many evils.