- Wisdom has built a house for herself, and set up seven pillars.
- She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine in a bowl, and
prepared her table.
- She has sent forth her servants, calling with a loud proclamation
to the feast, saying,
- Whoso is foolish, let him turn aside to me: and to them that want
understanding she says,
- Come, eat of my bread, and drink wine which I have mingled for you.
- Leave folly, that ye may reign for ever; and seek [a] wisdom, and improve understanding by
knowledge.
- He that reproves evil men shall get dishonour to himself;
and he that rebukes an ungodly man shall disgrace himself.
- Rebuke not evil men, lest they should hate thee: rebuke a
wise man, and he will love thee.
- Give an opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser:
instruct a just man, and he will receive more instruction.
- The fear of the Lord is the [b]
beginning of wisdom, and the counsel of saints is understanding: for
to know the law is the character of a sound mind.
- For in this way thou shalt live long, and years of thy life shall
be added to thee.
- Son, if thou be wise for thyself, thou shalt also be wise for thy
neighbours; and if thou shouldest prove wicked, thou alone wilt bear
the evil. [c] He that stays himself upon
falsehoods, attempts to rule the winds, and the same will pursue birds
in their flight: for he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and
he has caused the axles of his own husbandry to go astray; and he goes
through a dry desert, and a land appointed to drought, and he
gathers barrenness with his hands.
- A foolish and bold woman, who knows not modesty, comes to want a
morsel.
- She sits at the doors of her house, on a seat openly in the
streets,
- calling to passers by, and to those that are going right on their
ways;
- saying, Whoso is most senseless of you, let him turn
aside to me; and I exhort those that want prudence, saying,
- Take and enjoy secret bread, and the sweet water of theft.
- But he knows that mighty men die by her, and he falls in with a
snare of hell. But hasten away, delay not in the place, neither fix
thine eye upon her: for thus shalt thou go through strange water; but
do thou abstain from strange water, and drink not of a strange
fountain, that thou mayest live long, and years of life may be added
to thee.
[a] Alex. + 'that ye may live.'
[b] Or, summit.
[c] Heb. -- to beginning of verse
13.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]