Session 1 · Proverbs 1–5

The fear of the LORD, and wisdom's call.

Read to Me

The reading, recorded ahead of time. The chapters play one after another.

Checking recordings…

Thoughts before reading

Answer these two questions before the chapters are read.

Question A · Before the reading

Before these chapters praise wisdom, they define where it starts. What do you treat as the real beginning of a wise life: information, success, or the fear of the LORD?

Your answer

Question B · Before the reading

A father's voice will warn a son about another man's wife. Do you expect Scripture to speak this plainly about desire, or do you hope it will stay general?

Your answer

Your answers stay on this device.

Theological summary

Proverbs does not open as a list of tips. It opens as a father's instruction in the fear of the LORD. Chapter 1 states the purpose: wisdom, instruction, and words that give prudence to the simple. Fools despise that aim. The beginning of knowledge is reverence, not cleverness. Wisdom is then heard in the street, not locked in a school for the impressive. She calls, and she warns that those who refuse her will call and not be answered when panic comes. The fear of the LORD is therefore both the doorway and the daily climate of these chapters.

Chapters 2 through 5 show what that fear looks like in a young man's body and calendar. If he cries out for insight, the LORD gives wisdom and shields those who walk uprightly. Chapter 3 is the chapter of trust: lean not on your own understanding, honor the LORD with wealth, and do not weary of His reproof, for He disciplines the son He loves. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Chapters 4 and 5 keep the path concrete. Guard the heart. Do not enter the wicked path. The forbidden woman is not a metaphor first. Her end is death, and the commanded joy is a man's own wife.

Main point

The main point is that wisdom begins with fearing the LORD and then takes a visible shape in trust, discipline, speech, and sexual faithfulness. Solomon's collection is covenant instruction, not a secular success manual with God's name added. The son is addressed because folly recruits the young with promises of easy spoil and secret love. Wisdom also recruits, publicly, and she tells the truth about consequences. A wise life is a path, not a mood, and the father expects the son to walk it.

These chapters already refuse two distortions. One makes Proverbs a guarantee that the obedient never suffer, which Job has already contradicted and later sayings will qualify. The other treats the warnings about adultery as embarrassment the church may skip. The wife's cistern and the forbidden woman's door are moral theology. To fear the LORD is to trust Him at the crossroads and to keep the marriage bed with joy, not with suspicion of the gift.

Minor points

Father and mother both teach in the opening. Wisdom is household transmission, not only royal literature. A son who forgets their instruction is already on the path the violent men advertise.

Chapter 3's discipline saying is quoted in Hebrews 12. The LORD's reproof is evidence of sonship, not of abandonment. That truth must not be swung the way Eliphaz swung it, as a diagnosis of every wound.

The path image governs chapter 4. The righteous path shines more and more. The wicked stumble without knowing why. Proverbs thinks in roads, companions, and destinations, not in isolated clever lines.

Symbolism for Christian reading

Christians confess that Christ is the wisdom of God, and they must not use that confession to erase a father talking to a son. These chapters are first Israelite instruction: fear the LORD, seek wisdom, resist the gang, rejoice in your wife. The same Scriptures prepare a people who will hear the Son call, Come to me, and who will hear Paul preach Christ crucified as God's wisdom. The street cry of chapter 1 is not a secret code for the incarnation. It is already a real summons. The gospel gathers that summons into the voice of Jesus, who is greater than Solomon and who does not lower the fear of the LORD.

The tree of life in chapter 3 remembers Eden without claiming the son can seize glory by technique. Those who hold wisdom find a life God planted as gift. Christian reading sets that image under Christ, in whom is life, and under the final tree in the city of God. It also keeps the father's plain warning. Folly is not only a wrong idea. It is a wrong bed, a wrong gang, and a wrong use of the body God made. Grace does not make those paths holy. It forgives sinners and teaches them to walk the bright path.

The reading · Proverbs 1–5

World English Bible

Proverbs 1

The proverbs of Solomon open by naming their aim, and they set the fear of the LORD as the beginning of knowledge while Wisdom cries aloud in the street.

¹The 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh.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.32For the backsliding of the simple will kill them.The careless ease of fools will destroy them.33But whoever listens to me will dwell securely,and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Proverbs 2

The father urges the son to seek wisdom as hidden treasure, a gift from the LORD that delivers from violent men and from the forbidden woman.

1My son, if you will receive my words,and store up my commandments within you,2so as to turn your ear to wisdom,and apply your heart to understanding;3yes, if you call out for discernment,and lift up your voice for understanding;4if you seek her as silver,and search for her as for hidden treasures;5then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,and find the knowledge of God.6For Yahweh gives wisdom.Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.7He lays up sound wisdom for the upright.He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,8that he may guard the paths of justice,and preserve the way of his saints.9Then you will understand righteousness and justice,equity and every good path.10For wisdom will enter into your heart.Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.11Discretion will watch over you.Understanding will keep you,12to deliver you from the way of evil,from the men who speak perverse things,13who forsake the paths of uprightness,to walk in the ways of darkness,14who rejoice to do evil,and delight in the perverseness of evil,15who are crooked in their ways,and wayward in their paths,16to deliver you from the strange woman,even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,17who forsakes the friend of her youth,and forgets the covenant of her God;18for her house leads down to death,her paths to the departed spirits.19None who go to her return again,neither do they attain to the paths of life.20Therefore walk in the way of good men,and keep the paths of the righteous.21For the upright will dwell in the land.The perfect will remain in it.22But the wicked will be cut off from the land.The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 3

He calls the son to trust the LORD with the whole heart, to honor Him with substance, and not to despise the discipline of a father who loves.

1My son, don’t forget my teaching,but let your heart keep my commandments,2for they will add to you length of days,years of life, and peace.3Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you.Bind them around your neck.Write them on the tablet of your heart.4So you will find favor,and good understanding in the sight of God and man.5Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,and don’t lean on your own understanding.6In all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight.7Don’t be wise in your own eyes.Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.8It will be health to your body,and nourishment to your bones.9Honor Yahweh with your substance,with the first fruits of all your increase;10so your barns will be filled with plenty,and your vats will overflow with new wine.11My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline,neither be weary of his correction;12for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects,even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

13Happy is the man who finds wisdom,the man who gets understanding.14For her good profit is better than getting silver,and her return is better than fine gold.15She is more precious than rubies.None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.16Length of days is in her right hand.In her left hand are riches and honor.17Her ways are ways of pleasantness.All her paths are peace.18She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.Happy is everyone who retains her.19By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.By understanding, he established the heavens.20By his knowledge, the depths were broken up,and the skies drop down the dew.21My son, let them not depart from your eyes.Keep sound wisdom and discretion,22so they will be life to your soul,and grace for your neck.23Then you shall walk in your way securely.Your foot won’t stumble.24When you lie down, you will not be afraid.Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.25Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes;26for Yahweh will be your confidence,and will keep your foot from being taken.

27Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due,when it is in the power of your hand to do it.28Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again;tomorrow I will give it to you,”when you have it by you.29Don’t devise evil against your neighbor,since he dwells securely by you.30Don’t strive with a man without cause,if he has done you no harm.31Don’t envy the man of violence.Choose none of his ways.32For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh,but his friendship is with the upright.33Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked,but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.34Surely he mocks the mockers,but he gives grace to the humble.35The wise will inherit glory,but shame will be the promotion of fools.

Proverbs 4

Instruction continues: get wisdom, guard the heart, and refuse the path of the wicked, whose way is like deep darkness.

1Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction.Pay attention and know understanding;2for I give you sound learning.Don’t forsake my law.3For I was a son to my father,tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.4He taught me, and said to me:“Let your heart retain my words.Keep my commandments, and live.5Get wisdom.Get understanding.Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.6Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you.Love her, and she will keep you.7Wisdom is supreme.Get wisdom.Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.8Esteem her, and she will exalt you.She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.9She will give to your head a garland of grace.She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”

10Listen, my son, and receive my sayings.The years of your life will be many.11I have taught you in the way of wisdom.I have led you in straight paths.12When you go, your steps will not be hampered.When you run, you will not stumble.13Take firm hold of instruction.Don’t let her go.Keep her, for she is your life.14Don’t enter into the path of the wicked.Don’t walk in the way of evil men.15Avoid it, and don’t pass by it.Turn from it, and pass on.16For they don’t sleep unless they do evil.Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.17For they eat the bread of wickednessand drink the wine of violence.18But the path of the righteous is like the dawning lightthat shines more and more until the perfect day.19The way of the wicked is like darkness.They don’t know what they stumble over.

20My son, attend to my words.Turn your ear to my sayings.21Let them not depart from your eyes.Keep them in the center of your heart.22For they are life to those who find them,and health to their whole body.23Keep your heart with all diligence,for out of it is the wellspring of life.24Put away from yourself a perverse mouth.Put corrupt lips far from you.25Let your eyes look straight ahead.Fix your gaze directly before you.26Make the path of your feet level.Let all of your ways be established.27Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left.Remove your foot from evil.

Proverbs 5

The son is warned that the forbidden woman's feet go down to death, and he is told to drink from his own cistern and rejoice in the wife of his youth.

1My son, pay attention to my wisdom.Turn your ear to my understanding,2that you may maintain discretion,that your lips may preserve knowledge.3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey.Her mouth is smoother than oil,4but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,and as sharp as a two-edged sword.5Her feet go down to death.Her steps lead straight to Sheol.6She gives no thought to the way of life.Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.

7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me.Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.8Remove your way far from her.Don’t come near the door of her house,9lest you give your honor to others,and your years to the cruel one;10lest strangers feast on your wealth,and your labors enrich another man’s house.11You will groan at your latter end,when your flesh and your body are consumed,12and say, “How I have hated instruction,and my heart despised reproof.13I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers,nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!14I have come to the brink of utter ruin,among the gathered assembly.”

15Drink water out of your own cistern,running water out of your own well.16Should your springs overflow in the streets,streams of water in the public squares?17Let them be for yourself alone,not for strangers with you.18Let your spring be blessed.Rejoice in the wife of your youth.19A loving doe and a graceful deer—let her breasts satisfy you at all times.Be captivated always with her love.20For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress?Why embrace the bosom of another?21For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes.He examines all his paths.22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him.The cords of his sin hold him firmly.23He will die for lack of instruction.In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

Questions after Proverbs 1–5

Question 1 · Theological depth

If the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, what kinds of knowledge are exposed as unfinished when that fear is missing?

Your answer

Question 2 · Theological depth

The LORD disciplines the son He loves. How does this doctrine comfort a Christian under real reproof, and how does it differ from telling every sufferer that pain is proof of a particular sin?

Your answer

Question 3 · Text and history

In Proverbs 5 the forbidden woman and the wife of one's youth are set side by side. What does the chapter command, and what destruction does it say follows the forbidden path?

Your answer

Question 4 · Text and history

Chapter 1 has Wisdom crying in the public squares and warning that panic will come to those who refused her. How is her warning different from a mere threat of bad luck?

Your answer

Question 5 · Walk and practice

Name three practical steps you will take to seek wisdom as the fear of the LORD in an ordinary week. Then name two behaviors to change: one way you lean on your own understanding, and one way you treat sexual warning in Scripture as optional.

Your answer

Your answers stay on this device.

Next · Session 2Proverbs 6–10