4
1 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).*
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.†
* 4:23 cf Mk 7:20-23 † 4:27 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