Wisdom Calls Aloud

20 Wisdom calls out in the street,

she lifts her voice in the square;

21 in the main concourse[fn] she cries aloud,

at the city gates she makes her speech:

22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple [ways]?

How long will scoffers delight in their scorn

and fools hate knowledge?

23 If you had repented at my rebuke,

then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you;

I would have made my words known to you.

24 Because you refused my call,

and no one took my outstretched hand,

25 because you neglected all my counsel,

and wanted none of my correction,

26 in turn I will mock your calamity;

I will sneer when terror strikes you,

27 when your dread comes like a storm,

and your destruction like a whirlwind,

when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

28 Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;

they {will} earnestly seek me, but {will} not find me.

29 For they hated knowledge

and chose not to fear the LORD.

30 They accepted none of my counsel;

they despised all my reproof.

31 So they {will} eat the fruit of their own way,

and be filled with their own devices.

32 For the waywardness of the simple will slay them,

and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

33 But whoever listens to me {will} dwell in safety,

secure from the fear of evil.”