1 Kings 4:32

¹The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine. ³Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you. ⁴Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. Friends We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! Beloved They are right to love you.

⁵I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains. ⁶Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard. ⁷Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; for why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents. ⁹I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. ¹⁰Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

¹¹We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver.

¹²While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. ¹³My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts. ¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.

¹⁵Behold, ^[+] you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.

¹⁶Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant.

¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.

^1[+] The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel: ²to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; ³to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; ⁴to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man— ⁵that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel; ⁶to understand a proverb and parables, the words and riddles of the wise. ⁷The fear of the LORD ^[+] is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching; ⁹for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck. ¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent. ¹¹If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lie in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. ¹²Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol,^[+] and whole, like those who go down into the pit. ¹³We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder. ¹⁴You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse”— ¹⁵my son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path, ¹⁶for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood. ¹⁷For the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird; ¹⁸but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. ¹⁹So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners. ²⁰Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares. ²¹She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words: ²²“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge? ²³Turn at my reproof. Behold, ^[+] I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you. ²⁴Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; ²⁵but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof; ²⁶I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you, ²⁷when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you. ²⁸Then 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 didn’t choose the fear of the LORD. ³⁰They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. ³¹Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

³⁵that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

⁹Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs.