Proverbs 4 · משלי

Hear, you children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

For I give you good doctrine, forsake not my Tora.

For I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother.

He taught me also, and said to me, Let thy heart hold fast to my words: keep my commandments, and live.

Get wisdom, get understanding: do not forget it; nor decline from the words of my mouth.

Do not forsake her, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

The beginning of wisdom is, Get wisdom: therefore use all your means to acquire understanding.

Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she will bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she bestow on 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 rectitude.

When thou goest, thy steps shall not be confined; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

Do not enter into the path of the wicked, and do not go in the way of evil men.

Avoid it, do not pass by it, turn from it, and pass on.

For they sleep not, unless they have done mischief; 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 just men is like the gleam of sunlight, that shines ever more brightly until the height of noonday.

The way of the wicked is like darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

My son, attend to my words; incline thy ear to my sayings.

Let them not depart from thy eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.

For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.

Keep thy heart with the greatest vigilance; for out of it are the issues of life.

Put away from thee a dissembling mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

Let thy eyes look right on, and let thy eyelids look straight before thee.

Make even the path of thy foot, and let all thy ways be firm.

Do not turn to the right hand or to the left: remove thy foot from evil.