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 4,24 Spr 4,24
If iniquity be in thy hand, put it far away,And let not unrighteousness dwell in thy tents.
All the words of my mouth {Or, are righteousness}are in righteousness;There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil:Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
Wherefore, putting away falsehood, {Zechariah 8:16.}speak ye truth each one with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
{Psalm 4:4.}Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your {Greek: provocation.}wrath:
neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for {Greek: the building up of the need.}edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice:
He that hath a wayward heart findeth no good;And he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into {Or, calamity}mischief.
but now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth:
wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain.
Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of {Or, malice}wickedness, receive with meekness the {Or, inborn}implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
If any man {Or, seemeth to be}thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain.
Putting away therefore all {Or, malice 1 Corinthians 14:20.}wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,