1 Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.
2 She has butchered her meat and mixed her wine; she has laid her table too.
3 She has sent out her maidens; she calls out from the heights of the town:
4 "Let all who are simple turn aside here!" To the one who has no sense she says,
5 "Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Forsake folly and live; go forward in the way of understanding."
7 He who corrects a scoffer brings insult on himself, and he who rebukes the wicked gets a stain.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Instruct a wise man, and he becomes wiser; teach a righteous man, and he gains in learning.
10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD, and to know the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through me your days will be many, and years of life will be added for you.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom is to your own good; if you scoff, you alone will carry it.
13 Lady Folly is noisy; she is simple-minded and knows nothing at all.
14 She sits at the doorway of her house, on a seat at the heights of the town,
15 calling out to those who pass along, who are going straight on their paths:
16 "Let all who are simple turn aside here!" And to one who has no sense she says,
17 "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in hiding tastes good."
18 But he does not know that the shades are there, that her guests are down in the depths of Sheol.