A Father’s Instruction

1Listen, sons, to the discipline of a father, and pay attention, so that you may know prudence.

2I will bestow upon you a good gift. Do not relinquish my law.

3For I, too, was the son of my father, tender and an only son in the sight of my mother.

4And he taught me, and he also said: “Let your heart accept my words. Keep my precepts, and you shall live.

5Obtain wisdom, obtain prudence. May you neither forget, nor turn away from, the words of my mouth.

6Do not send her away, and she will guard you. Love her, and she will preserve you.

7The beginning of wisdom is to obtain wisdom, and, with all that you possess, to acquire prudence.

8Grasp her, and she will exalt you. You will be glorified by her, when you have embraced her.

9She will bestow upon your head an increase in graces, and she will protect you with a noble crown.

10Listen, my son, and accept my words, so that years of life may be multiplied for you.

11I will demonstrate to you the way of wisdom. I will lead you along the paths of equity.

12When you have entered by these, your steps will not be constrained, and when running, you will have no obstacle.

13Take hold of discipline. Do not dismiss it. Guard it, for it is your life.

14Do not delight in the paths of the impious, nor permit the way of evil-doers to please you.

15Take flight from it. Do not pass close to it. Turn away and abandon it.

16For they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. And their sleep is quickly taken away from them, unless they have overthrown.

17They eat the bread of impiety, and they drink the wine of iniquity.

18But the path of the just is like a shining light: it advances and increases, even to the day of completion.

19The way of the impious is darkened. They do not know where they may fall.

20My son, pay attention to my sermons, and incline your ear to my eloquent words.

21Let them not recede from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

22For they are life to those who find them and health to all that is flesh.

23Preserve your heart with all watchfulness, for life proceeds from this.

24Remove from yourself a corrupt mouth, and let detracting lips be far from you.

25Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids precede your steps.

26Direct the path of your feet, and all your ways shall be secure.

27Turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left; yet turn your foot away from evil. For the Lord knows the ways that are on the right, and truly, those that are on the left are perverse. But he himself will make your courses straight. Then your journey will advance in peace.