1 ⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

1 ⁸ Hear, my son, your father's instruction,
and reject not your mother's teaching;
1 ⁹ for they are a fair garland for your head,
and pendants for your neck.
1 ¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
1 ¹¹ If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood,
let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
1 ¹² like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole,
like those who go down to the Pit;
1 ¹³ we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with spoil;
1 ¹⁴ throw in your lot among us,
we will all have one purse" -
1 ¹⁵ my son, do not walk in the way with them,
hold back your foot from their paths;
1 ¹⁶ for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
1 ¹⁷ For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird;
1 ¹⁸ but these men lie in wait for their own blood,
they set an ambush for their own lives.
1 ¹⁹ Such are the ways of all who get gain by violence;
it takes away the life of its possessors.