Proverbs 4
A Father's Teaching
1O sons, hear the teaching of a father. Listen so you may get understanding.
2For I give you good teaching. Do not turn away from it.
3When I was a much loved and only son of my mother and father,
4he taught me, saying, 'Hold my words close to your heart. Keep my teachings and live.
5Get wisdom and understanding. Do not forget or turn away from the words of my mouth.
6Do not leave her alone, and she will keep you safe. Love her, and she will watch over you.
7The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom! And with all you have gotten, get understanding.
8Honor her and she will honor you. She will honor you if you hold her to your heart.
9She will put on your head a crown of loving and beauty.'
10Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many.
11I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you on the right paths.
12When you walk, your steps will not be stopped. If you run, you will not trip.
13Take hold of teaching. Do not let go. Watch over her, for she is your life.
14Do not go on the path of the sinful. Do not walk in the way of bad men.
15Stay away from it. Do not pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.
16For they cannot sleep unless they do wrong. They are robbed of sleep unless they make someone fall.
17For they eat the bread of sin, and drink the wine of wrong.
18But the way of those who are right is like the early morning light. It shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
19The way of the sinful is like darkness. They do not know what they trip over.
20My son, listen to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.
21Do not let them leave your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
22For they are life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.
23Keep your heart pure for out of it are the important things of life.
24Put false speaking away from you. Put bad talk far from you.
25Let your eyes look straight in front of you, and keep looking at what is in front of you.
26Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
27Do not turn to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from sin.
Proverbs 5
1My son, listen to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding.
2So you may know what is good thinking, and your lips may keep much learning.
3For the lips of a strange woman are as sweet as honey. Her talk is as smooth as oil.
4But in the end she is as bitter tasting as wormwood, and as sharp as a sword that cuts both ways.
5Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold of hell.
6She does not think about the path of life. Her ways go this way and that, and she does not know it.
7Now then, my sons, listen to me. Do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8Keep far away from her. Do not go near the door of her house .
9If you do, you would give your strength to others, and your years to those without lovingness.
10Strangers would be filled with your strength, and the fruits of your work would go to a strange house.
11You would cry inside yourself when your end comes, when your flesh and body are wasted away.
12You would say, 'How I have hated teaching! My heart hated strong words!
13I have not listened to the voice of my teachers. I have not turned my ear to those who would teach me.
14Now I have a bad name in the meeting place of the people.'
15Drink water from your own pool, flowing water from your own well.
16Should the waters from your well flow away, rivers of water in the streets?
17Let them be yours alone, and not for strangers with you.
18Let your well be honored, and be happy with the wife you married when you were young.
19Let her be like a loving, female deer. Let her breasts please you at all times. Be filled with great joy always because of her love.
20My son, why should you be carried away with a sinful woman and fall into the arms of a strange woman?
21For the ways of a man are seen by the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths.
22His own sins will trap the sinful. He will be held with the ropes of his sin.
23He will die for want of teaching, and will go the wrong way because of the greatness of his foolish ways.
Proverbs 6
A Father Talks To His Son
1My son, if you have put yourself as a trust for what your neighbor owes to another, or if you have made a promise for a stranger,
2you have been trapped with the words of your lips. You have been caught with the words of your mouth.
3Do this now, my son, and get yourself out of trouble, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go without pride and beg your neighbor to let you go.
4Do not let your eyes sleep. Do not let your eyes close.
5Take yourself away like a deer from the man who kills animals, and like a bird from the hand of the man who catches birds.
6Go to the ant, O lazy person. Watch and think about her ways, and be wise.
7She has no leader, head or ruler,
8but she gets her food ready in the summer, and gathers her food at the right time.
9How long will you lie down, O lazy person? When will you rise up from your sleep?
10A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands to rest,
11and being poor will come upon you like a robber, and your need like a man ready to fight.
12A person of no worth, a sinful man, is he who goes about telling lies.
13He winks with his eyes, makes signs with his feet, and makes certain moves with his fingers.
14He always plans to do sinful things because of his sinful heart. He causes arguing among people.
15So trouble will come upon him all at once. Right then he will be broken, and there will be no healing.
16There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven that are hated by Him:
17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that kill those who are without guilt,
18a heart that makes sinful plans, feet that run fast to sin,
19a person who tells lies about someone else, and one who starts fights among brothers.
20My son, keep the teaching of your father, and do not turn away from the teaching of your mother.
21Hold them always to your heart. Tie them around your neck.
22They will lead you when you walk. They will watch over you when you sleep, and they will talk with you when you wake up.
23For the word is a lamp. The teaching is a light, and strong words that punish are the way of life.
24They keep you from the sinful woman, from the smooth tongue of a sinful woman.
25Do not desire her beauty in your heart. Do not let her catch you with her eyes.
26For because of a woman who sells the use of her body, one is brought down to a loaf of bread. A sinful woman hunts to take a man's very life.
27Can a man carry fire in his arms, and his clothes not be burned?
28Can a man walk on hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will be punished.
30Men do not hate a robber who steals food for himself when he is hungry.
31But if he is caught, he must pay seven times what he took. He must give up all the things in his house.
32He who does sex sins with a woman does not think well. He who does it is destroying himself.
33He will be hurt and ashamed, and his shame will not be taken away.
34Jealousy makes a man angry. He will show no pity for the wrong that was done to him.
35He will not take pay, and he will not be happy even if you give him many gifts.
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