✧1Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. ✧2For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. ✧3For I was my father’s son, tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother. ✧4He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. ✧5Get wisdom, get understanding: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. ✧6Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. ✧7Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. ✧8Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. ✧
King James Version (KJV). King James Version (1769 text). Public domain outside the United Kingdom.
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She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
✧10Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
✧11I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.
✧12When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
✧13Take fast hold of instruction; let [her] not go: keep her; for she [is] thy life.
✧14Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil [men].
✧15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
✧16For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall.
✧17For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
✧18But the path of the just [is] as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
✧19The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
✧20My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
✧21Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
✧22For they [are] life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
✧23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life.
✧24Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
✧25Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
✧26Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
✧27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.