¹ The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

² for learning what wisdom and discipline are, for understanding words of deep meaning,

³ for acquiring a disciplined insight, uprightness, justice and fair dealing;

⁴ for teaching sound judgement to the simple, and knowledge and reflection to the young;

⁵ Let the wise listen and learn yet more, and a person of discernment will acquire the art of guidance.

⁶ for perceiving the meaning of proverbs and obscure sayings, the sayings of the sages and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline.

⁸ Listen, my child, to your father's instruction, do not reject your mother's teaching:

⁹ they will be a crown of grace for your head, a circlet for your neck.

¹⁰ My child, if sinners try to seduce you, do not go with them.

¹¹ If they say, 'Come with us: let us lie in ambush to shed blood; if we plan an ambush for the innocent without provocation,

¹² we can swallow them alive, like Sheol, and whole, like those who sink into oblivion.

¹³ We shall find treasures of every sort, we shall fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us: one purse between us all.'

¹⁵ My child, do not follow them in their way, keep your steps out of their path

¹⁶ for their feet hasten to evil, they are quick to shed blood;

¹⁷ for the net is spread in vain if any winged creature can see it.

¹⁸ It is for their own blood such people lie in wait, their ambush is against their own selves!

¹⁹ Such are the paths of all who seek dishonest gain: which robs of their lives all who take it for their own.

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the public squares;

²¹ she calls out at the street corners, she delivers her message at the city gates.

²² 'You simple people, how much longer will you cling to your simple ways? How much longer will mockers revel in their mocking and fools go on hating knowledge?

²³ Pay attention to my warning. To you I will pour out my heart and tell you what I have to say.

²⁴ Since I have called and you have refused me, since I have beckoned and no one has taken notice,

²⁵ since you have ignored all my advice and rejected all my warnings,

²⁶ I, for my part, shall laugh at your distress, I shall jeer when terror befalls you,

²⁷ when terror befalls you, like a storm, when your distress arrives, like a whirlwind, when ordeal and anguish bear down on you.

²⁸ Then they will call me, but I shall not answer, they will look eagerly for me and will not find me.

²⁹ They have hated knowledge, they have not chosen the fear of Yahweh,

³⁰ they have taken no notice of my advice, they have spurned all my warnings:

³¹ so they will have to eat the fruits of their own ways of life, and choke themselves with their own scheming.

³² For the errors of the simple lead to their death, the complacency of fools works their own ruin;

³³ but whoever listens to me may live secure, will have quiet, fearing no mischance.'

Daily Readings   Daily readings of the Mass. 7 days/week. See Sample E-mail:    Select Gender Male Female    Zip Code:

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

Ten Commandments | Books of the Bible | Buy a Bible

Old Testament »

New Testament »