1 Mishlei Sh’lomo Ben Dovid, Melech Yisroel;

² To have da’as of chochmah and musar (discipline); to understand the words of binah;

³ To receive the musar of those with seichel, tzedek and mishpat, and meisharim (equity, uprightness);

⁴ To give subtlety to the simple, to the na’ar, da’as and discretion.

⁵ A chacham (wise person) will hear, and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

⁶ To understand a mashal (proverb), and the melitzah (enigma); the divrei chachamim, and their chidot (riddles).

⁷ The Yirat Hashem is the reshit da’as, but fools despise chochmah and musar.

2 Beni (my son), if thou wilt receive my words, and treasure my mitzvot with thee;

² So that thou incline thine ear unto chochmah, and apply thine lev to tevunah (understanding);

³ Yea, if thou criest out after binah, and liftest up thy voice for tevunah (understanding)

⁴ If thou seekest her as kesef, and searchest for her as for matmonim (hidden treasures);

⁵ Then shalt thou understand the Yirat Hashem, and find the Da’as Elohim.

⁶ For Hashem giveth chochmah; out of His Peh (mouth) cometh da’as (knowledge) and tevunah (understanding).

⁷ He layeth up tushiyyah (wise Torah counsel) for the yesharim (upright ones); He is a mogen (shield) to them that walk in blamelessness.

⁸ He keepeth the orkhot mishpat, and is shomer over the derech of His Chasidim.

⁹ Then shalt thou understand tzedek, and mishpat, and mesharim (equity, fairness)‖every ma’agal tov (good path).

¹⁰ When chochmah entereth into thine lev, and da’as (knowledge) is pleasant unto thy nefesh;

¹¹ Mezimah (discretion) shall be shomer over thee, tevunah (understanding) shall safeguard thee;

¹² To save thee from the derech rah, from the ish medaber tahpukhot (man speaking perverse things);

¹³ Who leaving the orkhot yosher (paths of uprightness), walk in the drakhei choshech (ways of darkness);

¹⁴ Who rejoice to do rah, and delight in the tahpukhot (perverse things) of rah (evil);

¹⁵ Whose orkhot (paths) are crooked ones, and they are devious in their ma’agalot (paths);

¹⁶ To save thee from the isha zarah (strange woman), even from the nokhriyah (strange [immoral] woman) which useth smooth words;

¹⁷ Which forsaketh the alluf (companion, husband) of her youth, and forgetteth the brit (covenant) of her G-d.

¹⁸ For her bais inclineth toward mavet, and her ma’agalot (paths) to the refa’im (spirits of the dead).

¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither attain they to the orkhot chayyim (paths of life).

²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the derech tovim, and be shomer over the orkhot tzaddikim (paths of the righteous).

²¹ For the yesharim (upright ones) shall dwell in the land, and the tamimim (blameless, faultless ones) shall remain in it.

²² But the resha’im shall be cut off from ha’aretz, and the bogedim (treacherous ones) shall be rooted out of it.

4 Hear, ye banim, the musar (instruction, discipline) of an av, and attend to know binah (understanding).

² For I give you lekach tov (good doctrine, good instruction), forsake ye not my torah.

³ For I was ben to avi, tender and yachid (an only child) before immi.

⁴ He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine lev retain my words; be shomer over my mitzvot, and live.

⁵ Acquire chochmah, acquire binah (understanding); forget it not; neither turn from the words of my peh (mouth).

⁶ Forsake her not, and she shall be shomer over thee; love her, and she shall protect thee.

⁷ Chochmah is the principal thing; therefore get chochmah, and with all thy getting get binah (understanding).

⁸ Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall honor thee with kavod, when thou dost embrace her.

⁹ She shall give to thine head a garland of chen; an ateret (crown) of tiferet (glory) shall she present to thee.

¹⁰ Hear, O beni (my son), and receive my sayings; and thy shnot chayyim shall be many.

¹¹ I have taught thee in the derech chochmah; I have led thee in ma’aglei yosher (right paths).

¹² When thou goest, thy steps shall not be hindered; and when thou runnest, lo tikashel (thou shalt not stumble).

¹³ Take firm hold of musar; let her not go; guard her; for she is thy chayyim.

¹⁴ Enter not into the orach resha’im, and go not on the derech ra’im (road of the wicked).

¹⁵ Avoid it, travel al (not) on it, turn from it, and pass on.

¹⁶ For they sleep not, unless they have done evil; and their sheynah (sleep) is robbed, unless they cause some to fall.

¹⁷ For they eat the lechem of resha, and drink the yayin of chamasim (violences).

¹⁸ But the orach tzaddikim (path of the righteous) is as the bright light, that shineth brighter and brighter unto the full day.

¹⁹ The derech resha’im is as deep darkness; they know not at what they stumble.

²⁰ Beni (my son), attend to my words; incline thine ozen unto my sayings.

²¹ Let them not depart from thine eyes; be shomer over them within thine lev.

²² For they are chayyim unto those that find them, and health to all their basar.

²³ Set watch over and guard thy lev with all diligence; for out of it are the totze’ot chayyim (issues, wellsprings of life cf Mk 7:20-23).

²⁴ Put away from thee a deceitful peh (mouth), and perverse sfatayim (lips) put far from thee.

²⁵ Let thine eynayim look straight forward, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

²⁶ Ponder the ma’agal (path) of thy raglayim, and let all thy drakhim be firm.

²⁷ Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy regel from rah [T.N. Everyone in life has two paths to choose from just as Moshiach Tzidkeinu spoke of two gates, a wide one crowded with traffic and leading to destruction, and another one found by few but leading to life and redemption‖Mt 7:13-14].