Hear, ye sons, the instruction of a father,{HR}And attend to know understanding;
For I give you good doctrine:{HR}Forsake ye not my law.
For I was a son to my father,{HR}Tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.
And he taught me and said to me—{HR}Let thy heart retain my words;{HR}Keep my commandments and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding;{HR}Forget not neither decline from the words of my mouth.
Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee;{HR}Love her, and she shall preserve thee.
The beginning of wisdom [is], Get wisdom;{HR}And with all thy getting get understanding.
Exalt her, and she shall promote thee;{HR}She shall bring thee to honour,{HR}When thou dost embrace her.
She shall give to thy head a garland of grace;{HR}A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
Hear, my son, and receive my sayings,{HR}And the years of thy life shall be multiplied.
I will teach thee in the way of wisdom;{HR}I will lead thee in the paths of uprightness.
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;{HR}And when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go;{HR}Keep her, for she is thy life.
Enter not into the path of the wicked,{HR}And go not into the way of evil [men];
Avoid it, pass not by it,{HR}Turn from it, and pass away.
For they sleep not, except they have done mischief;{HR}And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness{HR}And drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is as the shining light{HR}Going on and brightening to the perfect day.
The way of the wicked [is] as darkness:{HR}They know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words; {sup}{HR}{/sup}Incline thine ear to my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes;{HR}Keep them in the midst of thy heart.
For they are life to those that find them,{HR}And health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart more than all thou guardest;{HR}For out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee perverseness of mouth,{HR}And corruption of lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on,{HR}And thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet,{HR}And be all thy ways well-ordered.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left;{HR}Remove thy foot from evil.