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Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
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to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;
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to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity;
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to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
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He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels:
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to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas.
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The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother;
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for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
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My son, if sinners entice thee, consent not.
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let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those that go down into the pit;
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we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
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cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse:
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-- my son, walk not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path;
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for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
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For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings.
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And these lay wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own lives.
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So are the paths of every one that is greedy of gain: it taketh away the life of its possessors.
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Wisdom crieth without; she raiseth her voice in the broadways;
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Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded;
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and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
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I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh;
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Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah;
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they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof:
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therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices.
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But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil.