10My son, if sinners entice you,
         Do not consent.

11If they say, “Come with us,
         Let us lie in wait for blood,
         Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

12Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,
         Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;

13We will find all kinds of precious wealth,
         We will fill our houses with spoil;

14Throw in your lot with us,
         We shall all have one purse,”

15My son, do not walk in the way with them.
         Keep your feet from their path,

16For their feet run to evil
         And they hasten to shed blood.

17Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net
         In the sight of any bird;

18But they lie in wait for their own blood;
         They ambush their own lives.

19So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence;
         It takes away the life of its possessors.

Wisdom Warns

20Wisdom shouts in the street,
         She lifts her voice in the square;

21At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
         At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

22“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?
         And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
         And fools hate knowledge?

23“Turn to my reproof,
         Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;
         I will make my words known to you.

24“Because I called and you refused,
         I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;

25And you neglected all my counsel
         And did not want my reproof;

26I will also laugh at your calamity;
         I will mock when your dread comes,

27When your dread comes like a storm
         And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
         When distress and anguish come upon you.

28“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
         They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,

29Because they hated knowledge
         And did not choose the fear of the LORD.

30“They would not accept my counsel,
         They spurned all my reproof.

31“So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
         And be satiated with their own devices.

32“For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
         And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

33“But he who listens to me shall live securely
         And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
because discipline and teachings are a graceful garland on your head and a golden chain around your neck.

King James Bible
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Douay-Rheims Bible
That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck.

Darby Bible Translation
for they shall be a garland of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

English Revised Version
For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Webster's Bible Translation
For they shalt be an ornament of grace to thy head, and chains about thy neck.

World English Bible
for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.

Young's Literal Translation
For a graceful wreath are they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.

Cross References

Genesis 41:42 Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck.

Psalm 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them.

Proverbs 3:3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:22 So they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck.

Proverbs 4:9 "She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty."

Song of Solomon 4:9 "You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace.

Jeremiah 35:8 "We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters,

Ezekiel 16:11 "I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck.

Daniel 5:29 Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 7-9

Solomon, having undertaken to teach a young man knowledge and discretion, here lays down two general rules to be observed in order thereunto, and those are, to fear God and honour his parents, which two fundamental laws of morality Pythagoras begins his golden verses with, but the former of them in a wretchedly corrupted state. Primum, deos immortales cole, parentesque honora-First worship the immortal gods, and honour your parents. To make young people such as they should be,

I. Let them have regard to God as their supreme.

1. He lays down this truth, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (v. 7); it is the principal part of knowledge (so the margin); it is the head of knowledge; that is, (1.) Of all things that are to be known this is most evident, that God is to be feared, to be reverenced, served, and worshipped; this is so the beginning of knowledge that those know nothing who do not know this. (2.) In order to the attaining of all useful knowledge this is most necessary, that we fear God; we are not qualified to profit by the instructions that are given us unless our minds be possessed with a holy reverence of God, and every thought within us be brought into obedience to him. If any man will do his will, he shall know of his doctrine, Jn. 7:17. (3.) As all our knowledge must take rise from the fear of God, so it must tend to it as its perfection and centre. Those know enough who know how to fear God, who are careful in every thing to please him and fearful of offending him in any thing; this is the Alpha and Omega of knowledge.

2. To confirm this truth, that an eye to God must both direct and quicken all our pursuits of knowledge, he observes, Fools (atheists, who have no regard to God) despise wisdom and instruction; having no dread at all of God's wrath, nor any desire of his favour, they will not give you thanks for telling them what they may do to escape his wrath and obtain his favour. Those who say to the Almighty, Depart from us, who are so far from fearing him that they set him at defiance, can excite no surprise if they desire not the knowledge of his ways, but despise that instruction. Note, Those are fools who do not fear God and value the scriptures; and though they may pretend to be admirers of wit they are really strangers and enemies to wisdom.

II. Let them have regard to their parents as their superiors (v. 8, 9): My son, hear the instruction of thy father. He means, not only that he would have his own children to be observant of him, and of what he said to them, nor only that he would have his pupils, and those who came to him to be taught, to look upon him as their father and attend to his precepts with the disposition of children, but that he would have all children to be dutiful and respectful to their parents, and to conform to the virtuous and religious education which they give them, according to the law of the fifth commandment.

1. He takes it for granted that parents will, with all the wisdom they have, instruct their children, and, with all the authority they have, give law to them for their good. They are reasonable creatures, and therefore we must not give them law without instruction; we must draw them with the cords of a man, and when we tell them what they must do we must tell them why. But they are corrupt and wilful, and therefore with the instruction there is need of a law. Abraham will not only catechize, but command, his household. Both the father and the mother must do all they can for the good education of their children, and all little enough.

2. He charges children both to receive and to retain the good lessons and laws their parents give them. (1.) To receive them with readiness: "Hear the instruction of thy father; hear it and heed it; hear it and bid it welcome, and be thankful for it, and subscribe to it." (2.) To retain them with resolution: "Forsake not their law; think not that when thou art grown up, and no longer under tutors and governors, thou mayest live at large; no, the law of thy mother was according to the law of thy God, and therefore it must never be forsaken; thou wast trained up in the way in which thou shouldst go, and therefore, when thou art old, thou must not depart from it." Some observe that whereas the Gentile ethics, and the laws of the Persians and Romans, provided only that children should pay respect to their father, the divine law secures the honour of the mother also.

3. He recommends this as that which is very graceful and will put an honour upon us: "The instructions and laws of thy parents, carefully observed and lived up to, shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head (v. 9), such an ornament as is, in the sight of God, of great price, and shall make thee look as great as those that wear gold chains about their necks." Let divine truths and commands be to us a coronet, or a collar of SS, which are badges of first-rate honours; let us value them, and be ambitious of them, and then they shall be so to us. Those are truly valuable, and shall be valued, who value themselves more by their virtue and piety than by their worldly wealth and dignity.

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New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

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