Moff PROV Chapter 9

Wisdom has built her mansion,

and set up her seven pillars;

her beasts are slain, her wines are blended,

her table is prepared;

she has sent her maidens out to cry,

on the thoroughfares of the city,

“Let all who are heedless turn in here!”

She calls to him who is devoid of sense,

“Come, eat my bread,

drink wines that I have blended;

leave your foolish ways and live,

follow the ways of thoughtful sense.”

Folly is loud and alluring,

she knows no sense of shame,

but sits at the door of her mansion,

on the thoroughfares of the city,

and calls to passers-by

as they go on their way,

“Let all who are heedless turn in here!”

She calls to him who is devoid of sense,

“Sweet are stolen waters,

bread in secret is delicious!”

Little he knows that dead men are within,

the guests of Death!

He who corrects a scoffer only gets insulted,

he who reproves a rascal is reviled for it.

Reprove not a scoffer, or he may hate you:

reprove a man of sense, and he will love you.

Instruct a man of sense, and he will gain more sense;

teach a good man, and he will learn the more.

The first thing in knowledge is reverence for the Eternal,

to know the Deity is what knowledge means;

this will multiply your days

and increase the years of your life.

If you are wise, your wisdom avails for yourself;

if you are a scoffer, you--you have to suffer for it. * * *