Wisdom and Foolishness Call Out

¹Wisdom has built her house,

She has hewn out her seven pillars;

²She has slaughtered her cattle, she has mixed her wine;[#9:2 Lit slaughtered her slaughter]

She has also prepared her table;

³She has sent out her maidens, she calls

From the tops of the heights of the city:

⁴“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

To him who lacks a heart of wisdom she says,

⁵“Come, eat of my bread

And drink of the wine I have mixed.

⁶“Forsake your simplicity and live,[#9:6 Or Forsake the simple ones]

And step into the way of understanding.”

⁷¶He who disciplines a scoffer receives disgrace for himself,

And he who reproves a wicked man receives injury for himself.

⁸Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you,

Reprove a wise man and he will love you.

⁹Give knowledge to a wise man and he will be still wiser,

Make a righteous man know it and he will increase his learning.

¹⁰The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will become many,

And years of life will be added to you.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,

And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

¹³¶The woman of foolishness is boisterous,[#9:13 Insolent foolishness of one who fails in wisdom due to willful sin]

A woman of simplicity, and does not know anything.

¹⁴She sits at the doorway of her house,

On a seat by the high places of the city,

¹⁵To call to those who pass by that way,

Who are making their paths straight:

¹⁶“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here,”

And to him who lacks a heart of wisdom she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet;

And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But he does not know that the dead are there,[#9:18 Lit departed spirits]

That those she called are in the depths of Sheol.