Proverbs 9

English TL (The Living Bible) (1971)

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1Wisdom has built a palace supported on seven pillars,

2and has prepared a great banquet, and mixed the wines,

3and sent out her maidens inviting all to come. She calls from the busiest intersections in the city,

4“Come, you simple ones without good judgment;

5come to wisdom's banquet and drink the wines that I have mixed.

6Leave behind your foolishness and begin to live; learn how to be wise.“

7If you rebuke a mocker, you will only get a smart retort; yes, he will snarl at you.

8So don't bother with him; he will only hate you for trying to help him. But a wise man, when rebuked, will love you all the more.

9Teach a wise man, and he will be the wiser; teach a good man, and he will learn more.

10For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding.

11“I, Wisdom, will make the hours of your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful.“

12Wisdom is its own reward, and if you scorn her, you hurt only yourself.

13A prostitute is loud and brash and never has enough of lust and shame.

14She sits at the door of her house or stands at the street corners of the city,

15whispering to men going by and to those minding their own business.

16“Come home with me,“ she urges simpletons.

17“Stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen apples taste the best!“

18But they don't realize that her former guests are now citizens of hell.

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