Proverbs 4

¹ Listen, children, to a father's discipline,
and pay attention, that you may gain understanding,

² for I give you good teaching;
do not forsake my instruction.

³ When I was a son with my father,
tender and the only one in my mother's sight,

⁴ he taught me and said to me,
"Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commands, and live.

⁵ Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget, and do not turn from the words of my mouth.

⁶ Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;
love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷ The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and with all your getting, get understanding.

⁸ Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.

⁹ She will place on your head a graceful garland;
a crown of beauty she will bestow on you."

¹⁰ Listen, my son, and receive my words,
and the years of your life will be many.

¹¹ I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in paths of uprightness.

¹² When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.

¹³ Hold fast to discipline; do not let go.
Guard her, for she is your life.

¹⁴ Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of evildoers.

¹⁵ Avoid it; do not pass through it.
Turn away from it, and pass on.

¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they have done evil;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining brighter and brighter until full day.

¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.

²⁰ My son, pay attention to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.

²¹ Do not let them slip from your sight;
keep them within your heart,

²² for they are life to those who find them
and healing to all their flesh.

²³ Guard your heart above all else,
for from it flow the springs of life.

²⁴ Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.

²⁵ Let your eyes look straight ahead,
and your gaze be fixed before you.

²⁶ Ponder the path of your feet,
and let all your ways be established.

²⁷ Do not turn to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.