Proverbs 9  Common English Bible

9 Wisdom built her house;
    she has carved out her seven pillars.
² She slaughtered her animals,
    mixed her wine,
    and set her table.
³ She sends out her female servants; she issues an invitation
    from the top of the city heights:
⁴ “Whoever is naive turn aside here,”
    she says to those who lack sense.
⁵ “Come, eat my food,
    and drink the wine I have mixed.
⁶ Abandon your simplistic ways and live;
    walk in the way of understanding.”

⁷ Whoever instructs the cynic gets insulted;
    whoever corrects the wicked gets hurt.
⁸ Don’t correct the impudent, or they will hate you;
    correct the wise, and they will love you.
⁹ Teach the wise, and they will become wiser;
    inform the righteous, and their learning will increase.
¹⁰ The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord;
    the knowledge of the holy one is understanding.
¹¹ Through me your days will be many;
    years will be added to your life.
¹² If you are wise, it is to your benefit;
    if you are cynical, you will bear it all alone.

¹³ Woman Folly is noisy;
    she’s stupid and doesn’t even know it.
¹⁴ She sits at the doorway of her house,
    on a seat at the city heights.
¹⁵ She invites those who pass by on the path,
    those going straight on their way.
¹⁶ “Whoever is naive, come in here,”
    she says to those who lack sense.
¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet;
    food eaten in secret is pleasant.”
¹⁸ But they don’t know that the dead are there;
    her guests are in the depths of the grave.^[a]