- Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know
understanding.
- For I give you a good gift; forsake ye not my law.
- For I also was a son obedient to my father, and loved in
the sight of my mother:
- who spoke and instructed me, saying, Let our speech be
fixed in thine heart, keep our commandments, forget them not:
- and do not neglect the speech of my mouth.[a]
- And forsake it not, and it shall cleave to thee: love it, and it
shall keep thee.
- [b] Secure it, and it shall exalt
thee: honour it, that it may embrace thee;
- that it may give unto thy head a crown of graces, and may cover
thee with a crown of delight.
- Hear, my son, and receive my words; and the years of thy
life shall be increased, that the resources of thy life may be many.
- For I teach thee the ways of wisdom; and I cause thee to go in
right [c] paths.
- For when thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when
thou runnest, thou shalt not be distressed.
- Take hold of my instruction; let it not go, -- but keep it for
thyself for thy life.
- Go not in the ways of the ungodly, neither covet the ways of
transgressors.
- In whatever place they shall pitch their camp, go not thither; but
turn from them, and pass away.
- For they cannot sleep, unless they have done evil: their sleep is
taken away, and they rest not.
- For these live upon the bread of ungodliness, and are drunken with
wine of transgression.
- But the ways of the righteous shine like light; they go on and
shine, until the day [d] be fully come.
- But the ways of the ungodly are dark; they know not how they stumble.
- My son, attend to my speech; and apply thine ear to my
words:
- that thy fountains may not fail thee; keep them in thine
heart.
- For they are life to those that find them, and [e] health to all their flesh.
- Keep thine heart with the utmost care; for out of these are the
issues of life.
- Remove from thee a froward mouth, and put far away from thee
unjust lips.
- Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids assent
to just things.
- Make straight paths for thy feet, and order thy ways aright.
- Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away
thy foot from an evil way: [[f] for God
knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are crooked:]
and he will make thy ways straight, and will guide thy steps in
peace.
[a] See App.
[b] Lit. dig a trench about her,
see Heb.
[c] Gr. wheel-tracks, see chap 2. 18. Heb. 12. 13.
[d] Gr. order itself aright.
[e] Or, healing.
[f] Heb. omits.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]