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The proverbs of Solomon, son of David and king of Israel.
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Here are proverbs that will help you recognize wisdom and good advice, and understand sayings with deep meaning.
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They can teach you how to live intelligently and how to be honest, just, and fair.
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They can make an inexperienced person clever and teach young people how to be resourceful.
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These proverbs can even add to the knowledge of the wise and give guidance to the educated,
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so that they can understand the hidden meanings of proverbs and the problems that the wise raise.
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To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the LORD. Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn.
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My child, pay attention to what your father and mother tell you.
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Their teaching will improve your character as a handsome turban or a necklace improves your appearance.
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My child, when sinners tempt you, don't give in.
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Suppose they say, "Come on; let's find someone to kill! Let's attack some innocent people for the fun of it!
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They may be alive and well when we find them, but they'll be dead when we're through with them!
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We'll find all kinds of riches and fill our houses with loot!
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Come and join us, and we'll all share what we steal."
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My child, don't go with people like that. Stay away from them.
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They can't wait to do something bad. They're always ready to kill.
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It does no good to spread a net when the bird you want to catch is watching,
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but people like that are setting a trap for themselves, a trap in which they will die.
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Robbery always claims the life of the robber---this is what happens to anyone who lives by violence.
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Listen! Wisdom is calling out in the streets and marketplaces,
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calling loudly at the city gates and wherever people come together:
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"Foolish people! How long do you want to be foolish? How long will you enjoy making fun of knowledge? Will you never learn?
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Listen when I reprimand you; I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you.
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I have been calling you, inviting you to come, but you would not listen. You paid no attention to me.
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You have ignored all my advice and have not been willing to let me correct you.
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So when you get into trouble, I will laugh at you. I will make fun of you when terror strikes---
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when it comes on you like a storm, bringing fierce winds of trouble, and you are in pain and misery.
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Then you will call for wisdom, but I will not answer. You may look for me everywhere, but you will not find me.
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You have never had any use for knowledge and have always refused to obey the LORD.
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You have never wanted my advice or paid any attention when I corrected you.
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So then, you will get what you deserve, and your own actions will make you sick.
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Inexperienced people die because they reject wisdom. Stupid people are destroyed by their own lack of concern.
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But whoever listens to me will have security. He will be safe, with no reason to be afraid."
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My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do.
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Listen to what is wise and try to understand it.
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Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight.
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Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure.
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If you do, you will know what it means to fear the LORD and you will succeed in learning about God.
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It is the LORD who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding.
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He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest.
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He protects those who treat others fairly, and guards those who are devoted to him.
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If you listen to me, you will know what is right, just, and fair. You will know what you should do.
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You will become wise, and your knowledge will give you pleasure.
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Your insight and understanding will protect you
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and prevent you from doing the wrong thing. They will keep you away from people who stir up trouble by what they say---
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those who have abandoned a righteous life to live in the darkness of sin,
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those who find pleasure in doing wrong and who enjoy senseless evil,
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unreliable people who cannot be trusted.
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You will be able to resist any immoral woman who tries to seduce you with her smooth talk,
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who is faithless to her own husband and forgets her sacred vows.
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If you go to her house, you are traveling the road to death. To go there is to approach the world of the dead.
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No one who visits her ever comes back. He never returns to the road to life.
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So you must follow the example of good people and live a righteous life.
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Righteous people---people of integrity---will live in this land of ours.
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But God will snatch the wicked from the land and pull sinners out of it like plants from the ground.
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My child, don't forget what I teach you. Always remember what I tell you to do.
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My teaching will give you a long and prosperous life.
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Never let go of loyalty and faithfulness. Tie them around your neck; write them on your heart.
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If you do this, both God and people will be pleased with you.
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Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know.
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Remember the LORD in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.
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Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are; simply obey the LORD and refuse to do wrong.
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If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains.
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Honor the LORD by making him an offering from the best of all that your land produces.
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If you do, your barns will be filled with grain, and you will have too much wine to store it all.
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My child, when the LORD corrects you, pay close attention and take it as a warning.
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The LORD corrects those he loves, as parents correct a child of whom they are proud.
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Happy is anyone who becomes wise---who comes to have understanding.
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There is more profit in it than there is in silver; it is worth more to you than gold.
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Wisdom is more valuable than jewels; nothing you could want can compare with it.
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Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honor.
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Wisdom can make your life pleasant and lead you safely through it.
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Those who become wise are happy; wisdom will give them life.
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The LORD created the earth by his wisdom; by his knowledge he set the sky in place.
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His wisdom caused the rivers to flow and the clouds to give rain to the earth.
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My child, hold on to your wisdom and insight. Never let them get away from you.
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They will provide you with life---a pleasant and happy life.
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You can go safely on your way and never even stumble.
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You will not be afraid when you go to bed, and you will sleep soundly through the night.
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You will not have to worry about sudden disasters, such as come on the wicked like a storm.
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The LORD will keep you safe. He will not let you fall into a trap.
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Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it.
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Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now.
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Don't plan anything that will hurt your neighbors; they live beside you, trusting you.
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Don't argue with others for no reason when they have never done you any harm.
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Don't be jealous of violent people or decide to act as they do,
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because the LORD hates people who do evil, but he takes righteous people into his confidence.
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The LORD puts a curse on the homes of the wicked, but blesses the homes of the righteous.
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He has no use for conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble.
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Wise people will gain an honorable reputation, but stupid people will only add to their own disgrace.
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Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live.
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A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him.
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So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man.
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That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God.
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For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death.
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Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.
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Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, "Do not desire what belongs to someone else," I would not have known such a desire.
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But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing.
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I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life,
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and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death.
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Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.
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So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good.
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But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.
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We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin.
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I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate.
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Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right.
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So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me.
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I know that good does not live in me---that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it.
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I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do.
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If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.
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So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have.
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My inner being delights in the law of God.
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But I see a different law at work in my body---a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body.
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What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?
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Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.
