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To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;
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For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.
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My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.
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If they say, "Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
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Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
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We shall find all kinds of precious possessions, We shall fill our houses with spoil;
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Cast in your lot among us, Let us all have one purse"--
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My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;
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For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.
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Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird;
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But they lie in wait for their own blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives.
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So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.
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Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
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She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:
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"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
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Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
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Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
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Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
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I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
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When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
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"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
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Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
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They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.
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Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
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For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
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But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil."