Proverbs
Chapter 9
Wisdom is pictured as a woman who builds a house, prepares a feast, and sends servants to invite anyone who will listen. In the middle, the chapter compares how mockers and wise people react when they are corrected. At the end, a second woman named Folly calls from her own doorway with a rival invitation, and the chapter says where her guests end up.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
1Wisdom is pictured here as a woman. She has built her house and carved out its seven pillars.
2She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.
2She has cooked the meat and mixed the wine. She has set her table for the meal.
3She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
3She has sent out her servant girls. She calls out from the highest places in the city.
4Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,
4"Anyone who does not know much, come in here!" She says this to the person who lacks good sense.
5Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
5"Come and eat my bread. Drink the wine I have mixed.
6Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
6Leave foolish ways behind, and you will live. Walk on the road of understanding."
7He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
7If you correct someone who mocks, you only get insulted. If you correct a wicked man, you get hurt for it.
"Getteth himself a blot" means he ends up stained, that is, he damages his own name by trying.
8Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
8Do not correct a mocker, or he will hate you. Correct a wise person, and he will love you for it.
9Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
9Teach a wise person, and he will grow even wiser. Teach a good person, and he will learn more.
10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
10Respect for the LORD is where wisdom starts. Knowing the Holy One is what understanding means.
11For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
11Wisdom says: through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.
12If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
12If you are wise, you are the one who gains. If you mock, you alone will pay for it.
13A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
13The woman named Folly is loud. She does not know much, and she knows nothing worth knowing.
The KJV says "a foolish woman." In Hebrew this is a name, Folly, set up as the opposite of the woman Wisdom in verse 1.
14For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,
14She sits at the door of her house, on a seat up in the high places of the city.
15To call passengers who go right on their ways:
15From there she calls out to people walking by, who are going straight on their way.
16Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,
16"Anyone who does not know much, come in here!" She says this to the person who lacks good sense.
17Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
17"Stolen water tastes sweet. Bread eaten in secret tastes good!"
18But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
18But the man does not know that the dead are in there. Her guests are deep down among the dead.
The KJV word "hell" here is the Hebrew word Sheol, the place of the dead, not a picture of punishment by fire.
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