5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, thatthou canst not know
them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours bein the house of a stranger;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed
me!
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, andrivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let her be asthe loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and
be thou ravished always with her love.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a
stranger?
21 For the ways of man arebefore the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of
his sins.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, ifthou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go,
humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the
fowler.
6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, andgathereth her food in the harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yeta little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
14 Frowardness isin his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
16 These six thingsdoth the LORD hate: yea, seven arean abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness thatspeaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, andtie them about thy neck.
22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and whenthou
awakest, it shall talk with thee.

23 For the commandment isa lamp; and the law islight; and reproofs of instruction arethe
way of life:
24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is broughtto a piece of bread: and the adulteress
will hunt for the precious life.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
30 Mendo not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
31 But ifhe be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 Butwhoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he thatdoeth it
destroyeth his own soul.
33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy isthe rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou artmy sister; and call understanding thykinswoman:
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger whichflattereth with
her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of
understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
10 And, behold, there met him a woman withthe attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She isloud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12 Now is shewithout, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, and kissed him, andwith an impudent face said unto him,
14 I havepeace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of
Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the goodman isnot at home, he is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, andwill come home at the day appointed.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced
him.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the
correction of the stocks;
23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is
for his life.
24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong menhave been slain by her.
27 Her house isthe way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice isto the sons of man.
5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall beright things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness isan abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth arein righteousness; there isnothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They areall plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom isbetter than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be
compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD isto hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward
mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel ismine, and sound wisdom: I amunderstanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, evenall the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honour arewith me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit isbetter than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there wereno depths, I was brought forth; when there wereno fountains abounding
with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the
world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I wasthere: when he set a compass upon the face of the
depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when
he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, asone brought up with him: and I was daily hisdelight, rejoicing always
before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights werewith the sons of men.
32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they thatkeep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed isthe man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my
doors.
35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
2 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.
3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
4 Whoso issimple, let him turn in hither: as forhim that wanteth understanding, she saith to
him,