Chapter 4

  Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know intelligence;  

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  for I give you good doctrine: forsake ye not my law.  

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  For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.  

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  And he taught me, and said unto me, Let thy heart retain my words; keep my commandments and live.  

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  Get wisdom, get intelligence: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.  

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  Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee; love her, and she shall preserve thee.  

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  The beginning of wisdom [is], Get wisdom; and with all thy getting get intelligence.  

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  Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her.  

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  She shall give to thy head a garland of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow upon thee.  

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  Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied.  

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  I will teach thee in the way of wisdom, I will lead thee in paths of uprightness.  

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  When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.  

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  Take fast hold of instruction, let [her] not go: keep her, for she is thy life.  

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  Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil [men]:  

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  avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass away.  

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  For they sleep not except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they have caused [some] to fall.  

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  For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.  

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  But the path of the righteous is as the shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come.  

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  The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.  

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  My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.  

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  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.  

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  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.  

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  Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded; for out of it are the issues of life.  

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  Put away from thee perverseness of mouth, and corrupt lips put far from thee.  

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  Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.  

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  Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be well-ordered.  

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  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.  

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