Proverbs 8-9

Easy-to-Read Version

⁴ “I am calling out to all of you.
    I am speaking to everyone.
⁵ You who are ignorant, learn to be wise.
    You who are foolish, get some common sense.
⁶ Listen, I have something important to say,
    and I am telling you what is right.
⁷ My words are true,
    and I will not say anything that is wrong.
⁸ Everything I say is right;
    there is nothing false or crooked about it.
⁹ These things are clear to any intelligent person.
    They are right to anyone with knowledge.
¹⁰ Choose discipline over silver
    and knowledge over the finest gold.
¹¹ Wisdom is better than pearls,
    and nothing you desire compares with her.

²² “The Lord made me in the beginning,
    long before he did anything else.
²³ I was formed a long time ago,
    before the world was made.
²⁴ I was born before there was an ocean,
    before the springs began to flow.
²⁵ I was born before the mountains and hills
    were set into place,
²⁶ before the earth and fields were made,
    before the dust of this world was formed.
²⁷ I was there when he set up the skies,
    when he drew a circle in the ocean to make a place for the land.
²⁸ I was there when he put the clouds in the sky
    and made the deep springs flow.
²⁹ I was there when he set the limits on the sea
    to make it stop where he said.
I was there when he laid the foundations of the earth.
³⁰ I grew up as a child by his side,^[b]
    laughing and playing all the time.
³¹ I played in the world he made
    and enjoyed the people he put there.

³² “Now, children, listen to me.
If you follow my ways,
    you will be happy too.
³³ Listen to my teaching and be wise;
    don’t ignore what I say.
³⁴ Whoever waits at my door
    and listens for me will be blessed.
³⁵ Those who find me find life,
    and the Lord will reward them.
³⁶ But those who do not find me put their lives in danger.
    Whoever hates me loves death.”