Proverbs 9 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Wisdom versus Foolishness

9 Wisdom has built her house;^(A)
she has carved out her seven pillars.
²She has prepared her meat;^(B) she has mixed her wine;^(C)
she has also set her table.^(D)
³She has sent out her female servants;^(E)
she calls out from the highest points of the city:^(F)
⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!”
To the one who lacks sense,^(G) she says,
⁵“Come, eat my bread,^(H)
and drink the wine I have mixed.
⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live;
pursue the way of understanding.
⁷The one who corrects a mocker
will bring dishonor on himself;
the one who rebukes a wicked man will get hurt.^[a]
⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;^(I)
rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.^(J)
⁹Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still;
teach a righteous man, and he will learn more.^(K)

¹⁰“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,^(L)
and the knowledge of the Holy One^(M) is understanding.
¹¹For by Wisdom your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life.
¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit;^(N)
if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”
¹³The woman Folly is rowdy;^(O)
she is gullible and knows nothing.^(P)
¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
¹⁵calling to those who pass by,
who go straight ahead on their paths:^(Q)
¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!”
To the one who lacks sense, she says,
¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”^(R)
¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there,^(S)
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.^(T)