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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 the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
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To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
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To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
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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 thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
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For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
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My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
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If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
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Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
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We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
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Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
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My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
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For their feet run to evil, and 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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And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
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So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
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Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
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She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
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How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
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Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
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Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
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But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
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I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
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When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
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Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
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For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
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They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
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Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
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For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
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But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
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My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
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So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
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Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
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If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
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Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
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For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
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He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
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He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
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Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
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When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
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Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
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To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
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Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
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Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
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Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
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To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
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Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
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For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
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None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
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That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
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For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
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But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
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My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
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For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
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Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
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So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
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Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
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In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
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Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
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It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
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Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
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So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
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My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
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For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
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Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
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For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
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She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
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Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
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Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
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She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
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The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
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By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
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My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:
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So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
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Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
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When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
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Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
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For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
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Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
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Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.
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Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
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Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
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Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
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For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
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The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
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Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
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The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
