Proverbs 4

¹Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
²For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not my teaching.
³For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.
⁴And he taught me, and said unto me: 'Let thy heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments, and live;
⁵Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;
⁶Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; love her, and she will keep thee.
⁷The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom; yea, with all thy getting get understanding.
⁸Extol her, and she will exalt thee; she will bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
⁹She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow on thee.'
¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
¹¹I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.
¹²When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
¹³Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.
¹⁴Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.
¹⁵Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.
¹⁶For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
¹⁹The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.
²⁰My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
²¹Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.
²²For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
²³Above all that thou guardest keep thy heart; for out of it are the issues of life.
²⁴Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
²⁵Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
²⁶Make plain the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
²⁷Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.

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