Proverbs

Proverbs 1

The Beginning of Wisdom and the Call of Wisdom

1. The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

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Proverbs 2

The Value of Wisdom and the Benefits of Seeking Understanding

1. My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you; 2. So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; 3. Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;

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Proverbs 3

Trust in the Lord and Embrace Wisdom for a Blessed Life

1. My son, forget not my law; but let your heart keep my commandments: 2. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to you. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them about your neck; write them on the table of your heart:

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Proverbs 4

The Importance of Wisdom and the Path of the Righteous

1. Hear, you children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2. For I give you good doctrine, forsake you not my law. 3. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

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Proverbs 5

Warning Against Adultery and the Dangers of Immorality

1. My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow your ear to my understanding: 2. That you may regard discretion, and that your lips may keep knowledge. ¶ 3. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

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Proverbs 6

Warnings Against Folly and the Consequences of Laziness and Wickedness

1. My son, if you be surety for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger, 2. You are snared with the words of your mouth, you are taken with the words of your mouth. 3. Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, when you are come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself, and make sure your friend.

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Proverbs 7

The Warning Against the Seductive Adulteress

1. My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with you. 2. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye. 3. Bind them on your fingers, write them on the table of your heart.

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Proverbs 8

The Excellence and Eternal Wisdom of God Calling Out to Humanity

1. Does not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? 2. She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. 3. She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

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Proverbs 9

The Way of Wisdom and the Folly of Foolishness.

1. Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars: 2. She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine; she has also furnished her table. 3. She has sent forth her maidens: she cries on the highest places of the city,

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Proverbs 10

Contrasting the Righteous and the Wicked Through Wise Sayings

1. The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. 2. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivers from death. 3. The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casts away the substance of the wicked.

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Proverbs 11

Contrasting the Righteous and the Wicked in Their Actions and Consequences

1. A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. 2. When pride comes, then comes shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. 3. The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

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Proverbs 12

The Righteous and the Wicked: Contrasting Paths of Wisdom and Folly

1. Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge: but he that hates reproof is brutish. 2. A good man obtains favor of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

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Proverbs 13

The Contrast Between the Wise and the Foolish in Their Words and Actions

1. A wise son hears his father’s instruction: but a scorner hears not rebuke. 2. A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. 3. He that keeps his mouth keeps his life: but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

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Proverbs 14

The Ways of Wisdom and Folly Contrasted

1. Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. 2. He that walks in his uprightness fears the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despises him. 3. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.

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Proverbs 15

Wisdom in Speech and Attitude: The Contrast Between the Wise and the Foolish.

1. A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. 2. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness. 3. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

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Proverbs 16

Wisdom and Guidance in Human Plans and God's Sovereignty

1. The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. 2. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weighs the spirits. 3. Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts shall be established.

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Proverbs 17

Wisdom, Folly, and the Power of Words in Relationships

1. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. 2. A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brothers. 3. The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD tries the hearts.

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Proverbs 18

The Power of Words and the Consequences of Actions

1. Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeks and intermeddles with all wisdom. 2. A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. 3. When the wicked comes, then comes also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.

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Proverbs 19

The Value of Wisdom and the Consequences of Foolishness

1. Better is the poor that walks in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. 2. Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hastens with his feet sins. 3. The foolishness of man perverts his way: and his heart frets against the LORD.

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Proverbs 20

Wisdom in Conduct, Justice, and Integrity

1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise. 2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own soul. 3. It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.

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Proverbs 21

The Righteous and the Wicked: Contrasting Paths and Divine Justice

1. The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will. 2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD ponders the hearts. 3. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

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Proverbs 22

Wisdom, Humility, and the Importance of a Good Name

1. A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. 2. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all. 3. A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

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Proverbs 23

Wisdom in Moderation, Discipline, and the Dangers of Excessive Indulgence

1. When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you: 2. And put a knife to your throat, if you be a man given to appetite. 3. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

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Proverbs 24

Wisdom, Strength, and the Consequences of Laziness and Evil

1. Be not you envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. 2. For their heart studies destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. 3. Through wisdom is an house built; and by understanding it is established:

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Proverbs 25

Solomon's Proverbs on Wise Conduct and Relationships

1. These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. 2. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. 3. The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable.

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Proverbs 26

Folly and Wisdom Contrasted Through Proverbs of Caution and Insight

1. As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. 2. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. 3. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.

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Proverbs 27

Wisdom in Relationships, Humility, and the Value of True Friendship

1. Boast not yourself of to morrow; for you know not what a day may bring forth. 2. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. 3. A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

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Proverbs 28

The Righteous and the Wicked: A Contrast of Conduct and Consequences

1. The wicked flee when no man pursues: but the righteous are bold as a lion. 2. For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged. 3. A poor man that oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food.

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Proverbs 29

Wisdom and Righteousness in Leadership and Daily Life

1. He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. 2. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn. 3. Whoever loves wisdom rejoices his father: but he that keeps company with harlots spends his substance.

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Proverbs 30

The Sayings of Agur: Wisdom, Humility, and Observations of Life

1. The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spoke to Ithiel, even to Ithiel and Ucal, 2. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. 3. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.

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Proverbs 31

The Virtues and Qualities of a Noble Woman

1. The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2. What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3. Give not your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

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