First Parental Lecture in Proverbs

Proverbs 1:10-33 First Parental Lecture

[Intro]

10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

[The Wicked Proposal]

11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

[Admonition]

15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

[Comparison to the Animal World]

17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

[Personification of Wisdom]

20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Introduction to Proverbs

What's the main point of Proverbs?  It's laid out in the introduction section.  Notice the beauty of the structure of the text

Proverbs 1:2-7

To know wisdom and
                            instruction; 

To perceive the words of understanding;

To receive the instruction of
    wisdom,
        justice, and
            judgment, and
                equity;

To give subtilty to the simple,
                        to the young man
             knowledge and discretion.

A wise man will hear, and
                    will increase learning; and
a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

To understand a proverb, and
                                    the interpretation;
                                            the words of the wise, and
                                                    their dark sayings.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but
                fools despise wisdom and instruction.