Proverbs 1 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.
1 The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:
2 They are for achieving wisdom and instruction, and to recognize sayings that bring insight.
2 to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;
3 They provide education in what makes sense, living right, judging correctly, and acting fairly.
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 They give discernment to the immature, knowledge and discretion to the young.
4 to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man—
5 Wise people will listen and gain in learning, and those who have good judgment will gain skills in guidance,
5 that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel;
6 understanding the proverbs and puzzles, the sayings and questions of the wise.
6 to understand a proverb and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.
7 Honoring the Lord is where true knowledge begins, but fools treat wisdom and good advice with contempt.
7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, pay attention to your father's instruction, and don't reject your mother's teaching.
8 My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching;
9 They are a wreath of grace to decorate your head; they are pendants for your neck.
9 for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.
10 My son, if evil people try to tempt you, don't give into them.
10 My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.
11 They may tell you, “Come with us. Let's go and hide, ready to kill someone. Let's ambush someone for fun!
11 If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lie in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
12 Let's bury them alive; let's put them in the grave while they're still healthy!
12 Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.
13 We'll take from them all kinds of valuable things and fill our homes with the stuff we steal!
13 We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder.
14 Come and join us and we'll all share what we get!”
14 You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse”—
15 My son, don't follow their ways. Don't go in that direction with them.
15 my son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,
16 For they rush to do evil; they hurry to commit violence and murder.
16 for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.
17 There's no point in trying to lure birds into a net when they can see it.
17 For the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird;
18 However, these evil people hide ready to kill others, but they themselves are the victims. They're only ambushing themselves!
18 but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.
19 This is what happens to you if you try to become rich through crime—it kills you!
19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.
20 Wisdom calls out in the streets; she shouts aloud in the squares.
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.
21 She cries out at busy corners; she explains her message at the town gates:
21 She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:
22 “How long will you stupid people love stupidity? How long will scornful people enjoy their mocking? How long will fools hate knowledge?
22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Pay attention to my warnings, and I'll pour out my deepest thoughts to you—I'll explain what I know to you.
23 Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
24 For I have called you, but you refused to listen; I reached out my hand to you, but you didn't care.
24 Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;
25 You ignored everything I said; you wouldn't accept any of my warnings.
25 but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;
26 So I'll laugh at you when you're in trouble; I'll mock you when you're in a panic.
26 I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you,
27 When panic rains down on you like a storm, when trouble hits you like a whirlwind, when sorrow and pain come on you,
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you.
28 then you'll call out to me for help, but I won't answer; you'll search hard for me, but won't find me.
28 Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me,
29 Why?—because they hated knowledge, and they didn't choose to respect the Lord.
29 because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
30 They're not willing to accept my advice; they despise all my warnings.
30 They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
31 So they'll have to eat the fruit of their own choices, bloated by their own devious schemes.
31 Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.
32 Stupid people are killed by their rebellion; foolish people are destroyed by their lack of concern.
32 For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
33 But everyone who listens to me will be kept safe, and will live without worrying about problems.”
33 But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”
Cross references (32)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 10:1; 1 Chronicles 22:9; 1 Chronicles 28:5; Ecclesiastes 1:1; Proverbs 25:1
- 2 Proverbs 7:4; Deuteronomy 4:5–6; Proverbs 17:16; 2 Timothy 3:15–17; 1 Kings 3:9–12
- 3 Proverbs 2:1–9; Job 22:22; 1 Kings 3:28; Proverbs 8:10–11
- 4 Proverbs 8:5; Proverbs 8:17; Psalm 119:9; Psalm 119:130; Proverbs 8:32
- 5 Proverbs 12:1; Proverbs 9:9; 1 Corinthians 10:15; Job 34:10; Job 34:16
- 6 Psalm 78:2; Mark 4:11; Psalm 49:4; Hebrews 5:14; Acts 8:30–31
- 7 Job 28:28; Proverbs 9:10; Psalms 111:10–112:1; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Proverbs 15:33
- 8 Proverbs 6:20; Proverbs 30:17; Proverbs 5:1–2; Proverbs 31:1; 2 Timothy 1:5
- 9 Proverbs 4:9; Daniel 5:29; Genesis 41:42; Proverbs 6:20–21; Proverbs 3:22
- 10 Ephesians 5:11; Proverbs 16:29; Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 13:20; Deuteronomy 13:8
- 11 Proverbs 1:18; Jeremiah 5:26; Proverbs 12:6; Jeremiah 18:18–20; Acts 25:3
- 12 Psalm 124:3; Psalm 28:1; Romans 3:13; Micah 3:2–3; Psalm 5:9
- 13 1 Timothy 6:9–10; Luke 12:15; Job 24:2–3; Nahum 2:12; Isaiah 10:13–14
- 15 Psalm 119:101; Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 4:14–15; Proverbs 4:27; Psalm 26:4–5
- 16 Isaiah 59:7; Proverbs 6:18; Proverbs 4:16; Romans 3:5
- 17 Job 35:11; Jeremiah 8:7; Proverbs 7:23; Isaiah 1:3
- 18 Psalm 9:16; Esther 7:10; Proverbs 28:17; Proverbs 5:22–23; Psalm 7:14–16
- 19 Proverbs 15:27; 2 Peter 2:3; Proverbs 23:3–4; Jeremiah 22:17–19; Habakkuk 2:9
- 20 Proverbs 9:3; Colossians 2:3; Proverbs 8:1–5; Luke 11:49; 1 Corinthians 1:24
- 21 Acts 5:20; Matthew 10:27; Proverbs 9:3; Matthew 13:2; John 18:20
- 22 Proverbs 1:29; Proverbs 5:12; John 3:20; 2 Peter 3:3; Psalm 1:1
- 23 Acts 3:19; Ezekiel 33:11; Ezekiel 18:27–30; Acts 2:36–38; Joel 2:28
- 24 Romans 10:21; Isaiah 65:12; Jeremiah 7:13; Isaiah 66:4; Hebrews 12:25–26
- 25 Luke 7:30; Psalm 81:11; Proverbs 1:30; Proverbs 12:1; Psalm 107:11
- 26 Proverbs 10:24; Psalm 37:13; Psalm 2:4; Proverbs 6:15; Luke 14:24
- 27 Proverbs 3:25–26; Psalm 69:22–28; Psalm 58:9; Proverbs 10:24–25; Romans 2:9
- 28 Micah 3:4; Zechariah 7:13; James 4:3; Jeremiah 11:11; Isaiah 1:15
- 29 Proverbs 6:23; Proverbs 1:22; Job 21:14–15; Hebrews 11:25; Isaiah 27:11
- 30 Psalm 81:11; Proverbs 1:25; Luke 14:18–20; Jeremiah 8:9; Psalm 119:173
- 31 Proverbs 14:14; Jeremiah 6:19; Job 4:8; Proverbs 22:8; Galatians 6:7–8
- 32 Proverbs 8:36; John 3:36; Jeremiah 2:19; Luke 16:19–25; Hebrews 12:25
- 33 Psalm 25:12–13; Isaiah 26:3; Psalm 112:7–8; John 10:27–29; Proverbs 14:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For it is better for you that ye should occupy a humble but honourable place in the flock of Christ, than that, being highly exalted, ye should be cast out from the hope of His people. For thus speaketh all-virtuous Wisdom: "Behold, I will bring forth to you the words of My Spirit, and I will teach you My speech.
Now, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" the sense of sin leads to repentance, and God bestows His compassion upon those who are penitent.
… what we read in the Proverbs of impious men saying, "Let us unrighteously hide in the earth the righteous man; yea, let us swallow him up alive as hell, and let us take away his memory from the earth: let us seize his precious possession," is not so obscure that it may not be understood, without laborious exposition, of Christ …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… and therefore the "wisdom" of God, by means of which she saves all men, "is declared in [its] going forth; it uttereth [its voice] faithfully in the streets, is preached on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city." For the Church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick which bears …
… by ought of their own; but that wisdom was in them, of which it is written in a certain book, she shall say to those that despised her, when they have fallen upon the evils which she threatened them; "I will laugh over your destruction." What wonder then is it, that the wise mock the foolish virgins?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)