| Berean Study Bible | King James Bible |
| 1These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, | 1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; |
| 2for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, | 2To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; |
| 3and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. | 3To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; |
| 4To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, | 4To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. |
| 5let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel | 5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: |
| 6by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. | 6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. |
| 7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. | 7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. |
| 8Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. | 8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: |
| 9For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck. | 9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. |
| 10My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them. | 10My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. |
| 11If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, | 11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: |
| 12let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. | 12Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: |
| 13We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder. | 13We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: |
| 14Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”— | 14Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: |
| 15my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path. | 15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: |
| 16For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood. | 16For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. |
| 17How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it! | 17Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. |
| 18But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. | 18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. |
| 19Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors. | 19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. |
| 20Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; | 20Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: |
| 21in the main concourse she cries aloud, at the city gates she makes her speech: | 21She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, |
| 22“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge? | 22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? |
| 23If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you. | 23Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. |
| 24Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand, | 24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; |
| 25because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction, | 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: |
| 26in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you, | 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; |
| 27when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you. | 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. |
| 28Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me. | 28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: |
| 29For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD. | 29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: |
| 30They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. | 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. |
| 31So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. | 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. |
| 32For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. | 32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. |
| 33But whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.” | 33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. |
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