Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father,
And attend to know understanding:
For I give you good doctrine;
Forsake ye not my {Or, teaching}law.
For I was a son unto my father,
Tender and {Hebrew: an only one.}only beloved in the sight of my mother.
And he taught me, and said unto me:
Let thy heart retain my words;
Keep my commandments, and live;
Get wisdom, get understanding;
Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee;
Love her, and she will keep thee.
{Or, The beginning of wisdom is, Get wisdom}Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom;
Yea, with all {Or, thou hast gotten}thy getting get understanding.
Exalt her, and she will promote thee;
She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace;
A crown of {Or, glory}beauty will she deliver to thee.
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings;
And the years of thy life shall be many.
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom;
I have led thee in paths of uprightness.
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;
And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:
Keep her; for she is thy life.
Enter not into the path of the wicked,
And walk not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it;
Turn from it, and pass on.
For they sleep not, except they do evil;
And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light,
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness:
They know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words;
Incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes;
Keep them in the midst of thy heart.
For they are life unto those that find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart {Or, above all that thou guardest}with all diligence;
For out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a wayward mouth,
And perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on,
And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
{Or, Weigh carefully}Make level the path of thy feet,
And let all thy ways be {Or, ordered aright}established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
Remove thy foot from evil.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 4,23 Spr 4,23
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse:He that keepeth his soul shall be far from them.
{Or, The beginning of wisdom is, Get wisdom}Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom;Yea, with all {Or, thou hast gotten}thy getting get understanding.
The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise,And guide thy heart in the way.
My son, let them not depart from thine eyes;Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings:
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool;But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
A gracious woman obtaineth honor;And violent men obtain riches.
For from within, out of the heart of men, {Greek: thoughts that are evil.}evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:
all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy children and thy children's children;
He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his life;But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.
but each man is {Or, tempted by his own lust, being drawn away by it, and enticed.}tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
Search me, O God, and know my heart:Try me, and know my thoughts;
There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt:
Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death.
And see if there be any {Or, way of pain}wicked way in me,And lead me in the way everlasting.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
{Or, Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not}Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
looking carefully {Or, whether}lest there be any man that {Or, falleth back from}falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled;