A Father’s Instruction 1 UDB Listen, children, listen to what I am teaching you. If you pay attention, you will learn about what it means to understand. BSB BSB: Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
2 UDB The lessons I give to you are good teaching, given in order. So do not refuse to learn the lessons I teach you. BSB BSB: For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.
3 UDB When I was my father's boy, and the only child of my mother, BSB BSB: When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,
4 UDB my father told me, "Put my words deep within you; obey my orders to you and you will have life. BSB BSB: he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.
5 UDB Hold on to what is wise and whatever helps you understand, and do not forget the lessons I taught you and do not throw away the insights I spoke to you. BSB BSB: Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.
6 UDB Do not run away from the lessons that the wise teach you, because if you become wise, wisdom will keep you safe. Love wisdom and it will guard your life. BSB BSB: Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.
7 UDB The most important thing you can do is to study the principles of wisdom and spend all you own so you can grow more and more in your understanding. BSB BSB: Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.
8 UDB Wisdom is to be loved more than anything that is valuable, and she will raise you to a high position— and wisdom will honor you when you show how much you love it. BSB BSB: Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.
9 UDB When you have attained wisdom, it will be like a beautiful wreath of honor on your head; she will give you a beautiful crown." BSB BSB: She will set a garland of grace on your head; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”
10 UDB Hear, my son, listen and understand what I say to you— do this, and you will live a long life. BSB BSB: Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.
11 UDB I directed you in the way you should walk and to use the wisdom you were taught; I led you by the hand down the roads, roads that are the right way for you to go. BSB BSB: I will guide you in the way of wisdom; I will lead you on straight paths.
12 UDB When you live, you do not have anyone to blame; if you live wisely, when you use all your effort, you will succeed. BSB BSB: When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.
13 UDB Remember the lessons that discipline taught you and do not let them go. Guard them; for you live your life by them. BSB BSB: Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.
14 UDB Do not do what wicked people do, nor be with them; do not be with people who do evil things. BSB BSB: Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 UDB Stay far from those ways; turn another way and go on another road. BSB BSB: Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by.
16 UDB Evil people cannot rest until they have done something that Yahweh said they must not do. They will not rest until they force someone to fall—someone who was doing well until they came along. BSB BSB: For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.
17 UDB They get their strength and they are fed by doing what is wrong, and they are intoxicated by hurting others; they get drunk on it. BSB BSB: For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
18 UDB The path taken by those who do right grows brighter and brigher, like the rising of the sun at dawn, and it shines brighter and brighter until it is as full as the light of day. BSB BSB: The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
19 UDB The actions of wicked people are like the darkness— they stumble because they cannot see what makes them fall. BSB BSB: But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 UDB My son, pay attention to what I am saying to you. Pay attention to these lessons I am teaching you. BSB BSB: My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21 UDB Keep reading them over and over, and keep them deep within you. BSB BSB: Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.
22 UDB For my words bring a message of life to those who pay attention to them, and their message brings health to the entire body. BSB BSB: For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
23 UDB Protect your heart with all your strength and guard what you love; guard it, for it becomes a fountain overflowing with life. BSB BSB: Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
24 UDB Make it your aim to keep away from you any lying speech, and put any deceptive talk far away. BSB BSB: Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.
25 UDB Look straight ahead because you are focused on what is good and right, and do not turn aside to the right or to the left. BSB BSB: Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
26 UDB Take care about where you will go, and take care to be sure that the way is safe; then you will know what to expect along the way. BSB BSB: Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
27 UDB Do not leave the straight road by turning to the left or to the right, and do not follow the way that leads to evil. BSB BSB: Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.