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:

2to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;

3to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity;

4to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

5He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels:

6to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas.

7The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sin

8Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;

9for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

10My son, if sinners entice thee, consent not.

11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;

12let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those that go down into the pit;

13we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

14cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse:

15 -- my son, walk not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path;

16for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

17For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings.

18And these lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.

19So are the paths of every one that is greedy of gain: it taketh away the life of its possessors.

Wisdom Calls Aloud

20Wisdom crieth without; she raiseth her voice in the broadways;

21she calleth in the chief [place] of concourse, in the entry of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words:

22How long, simple ones, will ye love simpleness, and scorners take pleasure in their scorning, and the foolish hate knowledge?

23Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour forth my spirit unto you, I will make known to you my words.

24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded;

25and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh;

27when your fear cometh as sudden destruction, and your calamity cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you:

28 -- then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me early, and shall not find me.

29Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah;

30they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof:

31therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices.

32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish.

33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil.