140:1Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man; 140:2those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war. 140:3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah. 140:4Yahweh, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet. 140:5The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah. 140:6I said to Yahweh, “You are my God.” Listen to the cry of my petitions, Yahweh. 140:7Yahweh, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. 140:8Yahweh, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah. 140:9As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. 140:10Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise. 140:11An evil speaker won’t be established in the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him. 140:12I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy. 140:13Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name. The upright will dwell in your presence.
141:1Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you. 141:2Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice. 141:3Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. 141:4Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies. 141:5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds. 141:6Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken. 141:7“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.” 141:8For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord. In you, I take refuge. Don’t leave my soul destitute. 141:9Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity. 141:10Let the wicked fall together into their own nets, while I pass by.
142:1I cry with my voice to Yahweh. With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy. 142:2I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles. 142:3When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me. 142:4Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul. 142:5I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” 142:6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than me. 142:7Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.
143:1Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me. 143:2Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous. 143:3For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead. 143:4Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. 143:5I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands. 143:6I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah. 143:7Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit. 143:8Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you. 143:9Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me. 143:10Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. 143:11Revive me, Yahweh, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. 143:12In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am your servant.
144:1Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle: 144:2my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me. 144:3Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him? 144:4Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. 144:5Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. 144:6Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them. 144:7Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners; 144:8whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 144:9I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you. 144:10You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword. 144:11Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 144:12Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. 144:13Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. 144:14Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. 144:15Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.
145:1I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. 145:2Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever. 145:3Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable. 145:4One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts. 145:5Of the glorious majesty of your honor, of your wondrous works, I will meditate. 145:6Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness. 145:7They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness. 145:8Yahweh is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness. 145:9Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works. 145:10All your works will give thanks to you, Yahweh. Your saints will extol you. 145:11They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power; 145:12to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, the glory of the majesty of his kingdom. 145:13Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. Yahweh is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds. 145:14Yahweh upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down. 145:15The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. 145:16You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing. 145:17Yahweh is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works. 145:18Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 145:19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them. 145:20Yahweh preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. 145:21My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh. Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
146:1Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh, my soul. 146:2While I live, I will praise Yahweh. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist. 146:3Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help. 146:4His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. 146:5Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God: 146:6who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever; 146:7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners. 146:8Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous. 146:9Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. 146:10Yahweh will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise Yah!
147:1Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him. 147:2Yahweh builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. 147:3He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. 147:4He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names. 147:5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite. 147:6Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground. 147:7Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God, 147:8who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains. 147:9He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call. 147:10He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. 147:11Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness. 147:12Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion! 147:13For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you. 147:14He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat. 147:15He sends out his commandment to the earth. His word runs very swiftly. 147:16He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes. 147:17He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can stand before his cold? 147:18He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow. 147:19He shows his word to Jacob; his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. 147:20He has not done this for just any nation. They don’t know his ordinances. Praise Yah!
148:1Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh from the heavens! Praise him in the heights! 148:2Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army! 148:3Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you shining stars! 148:4Praise him, you heavens of heavens, You waters that are above the heavens. 148:5Let them praise Yahweh’s name, For he commanded, and they were created. 148:6He has also established them forever and ever. He has made a decree which will not pass away. 148:7Praise Yahweh from the earth, you great sea creatures, and all depths; 148:8lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word; 148:9mountains and all hills; fruit trees and all cedars; 148:10wild animals and all livestock; small creatures and flying birds; 148:11kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; 148:12both young men and maidens; old men and children: 148:13let them praise Yahweh’s name, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and the heavens. 148:14He has lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise Yah!
149:1Praise Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. 149:2Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 149:3Let them praise his name in the dance! Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp! 149:4For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation. 149:5Let the saints rejoice in honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds. 149:6May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 149:7To execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; 149:8To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 149:9to execute on them the written judgment. All his saints have this honor. Praise Yah!
150:1Praise Yah! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power! 150:2Praise him for his mighty acts! Praise him according to his excellent greatness! 150:3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! 150:4Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! 150:5Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals! 150:6Let everything that has breath praise Yah! Praise Yah!
Proverbs
1:1The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel: 1:2to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; 1:3to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; 1:4to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man: 1:5that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel: 1:6to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise. 1:7The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. 1:8My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching: 1:9for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck. 1:10My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent. 1:11If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. 1:12Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit. 1:13We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder. 1:14You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.” 1:15My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path, 1:16for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood. 1:17For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird: 1:18but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. 1:19So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners. 1:20Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares. 1:21She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words: 1:22“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge? 1:23Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you. 1:24Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; 1:25but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof; 1:26I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you; 1:27when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you. 1:28Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me; 1:29because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh. 1:30They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. 1:31Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes. 1:32For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them. 1:33But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”
2:1My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you; 2:2So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; 2:3Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; 2:4If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures: 2:5then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God. 2:6For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. 2:7He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity; 2:8that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints. 2:9Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path. 2:10For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 2:11Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you, 2:12to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things; 2:13who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 2:14who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil; 2:15who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths: 2:16To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words; 2:17who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God: 2:18for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits. 2:19None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life: 2:20that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 2:21For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it. 2:22But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
3:1My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments: 3:2for length of days, and years of life, and peace, will they add to you. 3:3Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. 3:4So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 3:5Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. 3:6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 3:7Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil. 3:8It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones. 3:9Honor Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase: 3:10so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. 3:11My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof: 3:12for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights. 3:13Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding. 3:14For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold. 3:15She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her. 3:16Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. 3:17Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace. 3:18She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her. 3:19By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. 3:20By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. 3:21My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion: 3:22so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck. 3:23Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won’t stumble. 3:24When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. 3:25Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes: 3:26for Yahweh will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken. 3:27Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. 3:28Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you. 3:29Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you. 3:30Don’t strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. 3:31Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. 3:32For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright. 3:33Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous. 3:34Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble. 3:35The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.
4:1Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding; 4:2for I give you sound learning. Don’t forsake my law. 4:3For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. 4:4He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live. 4:5Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth. 4:6Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you. 4:7Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding. 4:8Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her. 4:9She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.” 4:10Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many. 4:11I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths. 4:12When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble. 4:13Take firm hold of instruction. Don’t let her go. Keep her, for she is your life. 4:14Don’t enter into the path of the wicked. Don’t walk in the way of evil men. 4:15Avoid it, and don’t pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on. 4:16For they don’t sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall. 4:17For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 4:18But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day. 4:19The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over. 4:20My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. 4:21Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart. 4:22For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. 4:23Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life. 4:24Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you. 4:25Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. 4:26Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established. 4:27Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
5:1My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding: 5:2that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge. 5:3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil, 5:4but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword. 5:5Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. 5:6She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it. 5:7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth. 5:8Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house, 5:9lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; 5:10lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house. 5:11You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, 5:12and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 5:13neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! 5:14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.” 5:15Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well. 5:16Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? 5:17Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you. 5:18Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. 5:19A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love. 5:20For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another? 5:21For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths. 5:22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly. 5:23He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
6:1My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger; 6:2You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth. 6:3Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor. 6:4Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. 6:5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. 6:6Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; 6:7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, 6:8provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. 6:9How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? 6:10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 6:11so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man. 6:12A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth; 6:13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers; 6:14in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord. 6:15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy. 6:16There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him: 6:17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood; 6:18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, 6:19a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. 6:20My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching. 6:21Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. 6:22When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you. 6:23For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, 6:24to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue. 6:25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids. 6:26For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life. 6:27Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? 6:28Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? 6:29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished. 6:30Men don’t despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry: 6:31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house. 6:32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. 6:33He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away. 6:34For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance. 6:35He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
7:1My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you. 7:2Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye. 7:3Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. 7:4Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative, 7:5that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words. 7:6For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice. 7:7I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding, 7:8passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house, 7:9in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. 7:10Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. 7:11She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house. 7:12Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. 7:13So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him: 7:14“Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows. 7:15Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you. 7:16I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. 7:17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 7:18Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving. 7:19For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey. 7:20He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon.” 7:21With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. 7:22He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. 7:23Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life. 7:24Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. 7:25Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, 7:26for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army. 7:27Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.
8:1Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice? 8:2On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands. 8:3Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud: 8:4“To you men, I call! I send my voice to the sons of mankind. 8:5You simple, understand prudence. You fools, be of an understanding heart. 8:6Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things. 8:7For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8:8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. 8:9They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge. 8:10Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold. 8:11For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it. 8:12“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion. 8:13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth. 8:14Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power. 8:15By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 8:16By me princes rule; nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth. 8:17I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me. 8:18With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity. 8:19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver. 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness, in the middle of the paths of justice; 8:21that I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries. 8:22“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. 8:23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. 8:24When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water. 8:25Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; 8:26while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. 8:27When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep, 8:28when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong, 8:29when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth; 8:30then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him, 8:31rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men. 8:32“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways. 8:33Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it. 8:34Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. 8:35For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. 8:36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”