Proverbs 4:1-22 ▼

1 Heare (O ye children) the fatherly exortacio, & take good hede, that ye maye lerne wysdome.

2 Yee I shal geue you a good rewarde, yf ye wil not forsake my lawe.

3 For when I myself was my fathers deare sonne, and tenderly beloued of my mother,

4 he taught me also, sayenge: let thine herte receaue my wordes, kepe my commaundementes, and thou shalt lyue.

5 Get the wysdome, get the vnderstondinge, forget not ye wordes of my mouth, & shreke not from them.

6 Forsake her not, and she shal preserue the: loue her, and she shal kepe the.

7 The chefe poynte of wysdome is, that thou be wyllynge to opteyne wysdome, and before all thy goodes to get the vnderstondynge.

8 Make moch of her, and she shal promote the: Yee yf thou embracest her, she shal brynge the vnto honoure.

9 She shal make the a gracious heade, and garnish the with ye crowne of glory.

10 Heare my sonne, and receaue my wordes, that the yeares of thy life maye be many.

11 I wil shewe the ye waye of wysdome, and lede the in the right pathes.

12 So that yf thou goest therin, there shal no straytnesse hynder the: and when thou runnest, thou shalt not fall.

13 Take fast holde of doctryne, let her not go: kepe her, for she is thy life.

14 Come not in the path of the vngodly, and walke not in the waye of the wicked.

15 Eschue it, & go not therin: departe asyde, & passe ouer by it.

16 For they can not slepe, excepte they haue first done some myschefe: nether take they eny rest, excepte they haue first done some harme.

17 For they eate the bred of wickednesse, and drike the wyne of robbery.

18 The path of the rightuous shyneth as the light, and is euer brighter & brighter vnto the parfecte daye.

19 But ye waye of the vngodly is as the darcknesse, wherin me fall, or they be awarre.

20 My sonne, marcke my wordes, and enclyne thine eare vnto my saynges.

21 Let them not departe from thine eyes, kepe them euen in the myddest of thine herte.

22 For they are life vnto all those that finde the, and health vnto all their bodies.