1Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction, and pay attention, so as to know understanding.
2For I have given you good teaching; do not forsake my instruction.
3For I was a son to my father, tender and the only one before my mother,
4and he taught me and said to me: ‘Let your heart hold fast to my words; keep my commandments and live.
5Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
6Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; love her, and she will keep you.
7The beginning of wisdom is: acquire wisdom, and with all your acquisition acquire understanding.
8Prize her, and she will exalt you; she will honor you when you embrace her.
9She will give to your head a garland of grace; a crown of splendor she will bestow on you.
10Listen, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many.
11In the way of wisdom I have taught you; I have led you in the tracks of uprightness.
12When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.
13Take hold of instruction, do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.
14Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not go straight on in the way of evildoers.
15Avoid it, do not pass along it; turn away from it and pass on.
16For they cannot sleep unless they do evil, and their sleep is robbed away unless they make someone stumble.
17For they eat the bread of wickedness, and they drink the wine of violence.
18But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, growing ever brighter until the full day.
19The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
20My son, pay attention to my words; to my sayings incline your ear.
21Do not let them slip from your eyes; keep them within your heart.
22For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.
23Above all guarding, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.
24Put away from yourself crookedness of mouth, and put deviousness of lips far from you.
25Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids gaze straight before you.
26Make level the track of your foot, and all your ways will be established.
27Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
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