1 The purpose of Proverbs
1 The purpose of Proverbs
1 The 1 Ki. 4:32;Eccl. 12:9proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.
2 To know wisdom and instruction; 2 To perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, 3 Justice, and judgment, and [a]equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, 4 To the young man knowledge and [b]discretion.
5 ch. 9:9A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; 5 And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and [c]the interpretation; 6 The words of the wise, and their Ps. 78:2dark sayings.
7 Warnings against violence
7 Job 28:28;Ps. 111:10;Eccl. 12:13The fear of the Lord is [d]the beginning of knowledge: 7 But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 ch. 4:1My son, hear the instruction of thy father, 8 And forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For they shall be [e]an ornament of grace unto thy head, 9 And chains about thy neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, 10 Gen. 39:7Consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us Jer. 5:26lay wait for blood, 11 Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; 12 And whole, Ps. 28:1as those that go down into the pit:
13 We shall find all precious substance, 13 We shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 Cast in thy lot among us; 14 Let us all have one purse:
15 My son, Ps. 1:1walk not thou in the way with them; 15 Ps. 119:101Refrain thy foot from their path:
16 Is. 59:7For their feet run to evil, 16 And make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread [f]in the sight of any bird.
18 And they lay wait for their own blood; 18 They lurk privily for their own lives.
19 1 Tim. 6:10So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; 19 Which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20 Result of rejecting wisdom
20 John 7:37[g]Wisdom crieth without; 20 She uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: 21 In the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? 22 And the scorners delight in their scorning, 22 And fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: 23 Behold, Joel 2:28I will pour out my spirit unto you, 23 I will make known my words unto you.
24 Is. 66:4;Jer. 7:13;Zech. 7:11Because I have called, and ye refused; 24 I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye Ps. 107:11;Luke 7:30have set at nought all my counsel, 25 And would none of my reproof:
26 Ps. 2:4I also will laugh at your calamity; 26 I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When ch. 10:24your fear cometh as desolation, 27 And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; 27 When distress and anguish cometh upon you:
28 Job 27:9;Is. 1:15;Jer. 14:12;Ezek. 8:18;Mic. 3:4;Zech. 7:13;Jas. 4:3Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; 28 They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they Job 21:14hated knowledge, 29 And did not Ps. 119:173choose the fear of the Lord:
30 Ps. 81:11They would none of my counsel: 30 They despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore Job 4:8;Is. 3:11;Jer. 6:19shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, 31 And be filled with their own devices.
32 For the [h]turning away of the simple shall slay them, 32 And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But Ps. 25:12whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, 33 And Ps. 112:7shall be quiet from fear of evil.
34 The reward of wisdom
