The proverbs of Shelomo the son of David, king of Yisra᾽el;

[These are] the analogues of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel [e.g., Torah is compared to a good woman; idolatry, to an adulteress.]

to know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

[He stated these analogues] to make known [(to men the importance of studying Torah, which is)] wisdom and mussar (reproof), to make understood words of understanding.

to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

To take [from them (the analogues)] wise instruction: charity, justice [(in accordance with the truth)], and justness [(compromise)].

to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

To give to the innocent, wisdom; to the youth, [(who has not yet learned anything)], knowledge and counsel.

A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels:

The wise one will hear [these analogues] and he will add to his learning, and the understanding one [(who understands one thing from another)] will [(in addition to what he hears)] acquire stratagems.

to understand a proverb, and a figure; the words of the wise, and their riddles.

[They will take heart] to understand [both] the analogue and [even] the figure [e.g., (2:16) Beware of idolatry (the analogue); Beware of the strange woman (the figure)], the words of the wise [(the Torah expositors)] and their allusions.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

[(The book proper begins now.)] The fear of the L-rd is the first [i.e., the tithe] of knowledge [("Put your fear before your knowledge")], for fools [(those who do not fear the L-rd)] spurn wisdom and mussar.

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and do not forsake the Tora of thy mother:

Hear, my son, the mussar of your Father [(what the L-rd gave to Moses, written and oral)], and do not forsake the Torah of your mother [(the congregation of Israel)] [("the Torah of your mother" - the words of the scribes, what they originated and added, making safeguards for the Torah)].

for they shall be a graceful garland for thy head, and chains about thy neck.

For they are a chaplet of grace to your head and a necklace to your throat.

My son, if sinners entice thee, do not consent.

My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield.

If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us lurk for the innocent without cause:

If they say: Come with us; let us lie in wait for blood. Let us lurk for the innocent one [to spill his blood] — without cause —

let us swallow them up alive like She᾽ol; and whole, like those who go down into the pit:

Let us swallow them [(the innocent)] up alive, like Sheol [(which swallows the body entire)], and whole [i.e., at the height of their prosperity], as those who descend to the pit [i.e., let us kill them and inherit their wealth],

we shall find all precious goods; we shall fill our houses with spoil:

All precious wealth is found [with them]; we will fill up our houses with spoil,

throw in thy lot among us; we shall all have one purse:

Cast your lot among us; let there be one pouch for all of us —

my son, do not walk in the way with them; restrain thy foot from their path:

My son, do not walk in the way with them; keep your feet from their path.

for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

For their feet run to [their own] evil, and they [heedlessly] hasten to spill blood.

For no heed is taken of the net which is spread in the sight of any bird.

For [though] the net is spread [(with food morsels)] for naught [i.e., for no apparent reason] in the eyes of all winged creatures,

And they lie in wait for their blood; they lurk for their lives.

They [(the hunters)] are lying in wait for their blood and lurking for their lives.

So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain; it takes away the life of its owner.

So, [(as with the birds)] are the ways of all committers of theft [(The "morsels" are tempting to them, and easily attainable, but, in the end,)] it [the theft] takes the life of its owner [i.e., the thief].

Wisdom cries aloud in the street; she utters her voice in the squares:

The wisdom [of Torah] sings in the thoroughfare [i.e., in the house of study]; in the expanses [i.e., in the places where Torah is "expanded upon,"] it lifts its voice.

she cries in the chief place of concourse, at the entrances of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying,

In the fore of [its] din, it calls out, at the entrances of the gates [(where the elders sit)]. It spreads its words throughout the city, [saying:]

How long, you simple ones, will you love being simple? and how long, O scorners, will you delight in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?

How long, O simpletons, will you love deception, and scoffers lust mockery, and fools hate wisdom?

turn at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make known to you my words.

Return to my reproof. Do I not speak my spirit to you and make known my words to you?

Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

[(But)] because I have called and you have refused; because I have stretched forth my arm [(to signal you to turn to me)], and you have not listened,

but you have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

And you have voided all of my counsel [(whose purpose was to exalt you in the world)], and did not desire my reproof,

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes upon you;

I, likewise, will laugh at your misfortune and make mock when your fear arrives.

when your fear comes like a storm, and your calamity comes like a tempest; when distress and anguish come upon you.

When your fear comes as a [sudden] cloud, and your misfortune, as a whirlwind; when affliction and oppression come upon you,

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they will not find me:

Then they will call me, and I will not answer; they will search for me, but they will not find me.

for they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

Because they hated wisdom and did not choose to fear the L-rd.

they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

They did not desire my counsel; they spurned all of my reproof.

Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

They will eat the fruits of their ways and will be sated with their counsels [(by afflictions in this world; and the principal will be guarded for them in Gehinnom)].

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the erring of fools shall destroy them.

For the waywardness of the simpletons will slay them, and the smugness of the fools [(in seeing the prosperity of the wicked and following in their footsteps)] will cause them to go lost.

But he who listens to me shall dwell safely, and shall be at ease without fear of evil.

But he who listens to me will rest secure [in this world], and in quiet [(in the world to come)] from the fright of evil [(the judgment of Gehinnom)].