| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; | 1The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: |
| 2To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; | 2To learn wisdom and moral instruction, and to discern wise counsel. |
| 3To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; | 3To receive moral instruction in skillful living, in righteousness, justice, and equity. |
| 4To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. | 4To impart shrewdness to the morally naive, and a discerning plan to the young person. |
| 5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: | 5(Let the wise also hear and gain instruction, and let the discerning acquire guidance!) |
| 6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. | 6To discern the meaning of a proverb and a parable, the sayings of the wise and their riddles. |
| 7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. | 7Fearing the LORD is the beginning of moral knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. |
| 8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: | 8Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teaching from your mother. |
| 9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. | 9For they will be like an elegant garland on your head, and like pendants around your neck. |
| 10My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. | 10My child, if sinners try to entice you, do not consent! |
| 11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: | 11If they say, "Come with us! We will lie in wait to shed blood; we will ambush an innocent person capriciously. |
| 12Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: | 12We will swallow them alive like Sheol, those full of vigor like those going down to the Pit. |
| 13We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: | 13We will seize all kinds of precious wealth; we will fill our houses with plunder. |
| 14Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: | 14Join with us! We will all share equally in what we steal." |
| 15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: | 15My child, do not go down their way, withhold yourself from their path; |
| 16For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. | 16for they are eager to inflict harm, and they hasten to shed blood. |
| 17Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. | 17Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird, |
| 18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. | 18but these men lie in wait for their own blood, they ambush their own lives! |
| 19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. | 19Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly; it takes away the life of those who obtain it! |
| 20Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: | 20Wisdom calls out in the street, she shouts loudly in the plazas; |
| 21She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, | 21at the head of the noisy streets she calls, in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words: |
| 22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? | 22"How long will you simpletons love naivete? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? |
| 23Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. | 23If only you will respond to my rebuke, then I will pour out my thoughts to you and I will make my words known to you. |
| 24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; | 24However, because I called but you refused to listen, because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention, |
| 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: | 25because you neglected all my advice, and did not comply with my rebuke, |
| 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; | 26so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you, I will mock when what you dread comes, |
| 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. | 27when what you dread comes like a whirlwind, and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm, when distressing trouble comes on you. |
| 28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: | 28Then they will call to me, but I will not answer; they will diligently seek me, but they will not find me. |
| 29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: | 29Because they hated moral knowledge, and did not choose to fear the LORD, |
| 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. | 30they did not comply with my advice, they spurned all my rebuke. |
| 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. | 31Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way, and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel. |
| 32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. | 32For the waywardness of the simpletons will kill them, and the careless ease of fools will destroy them. |
| 33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. | 33But the one who listens to me will live in security, and will be at ease from the dread of harm. |
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