Proverbs — Chapter 9
Wisdom has built her house,She has hewn her seven pillars.
She has prepared the feast,Mixed the wine,And also set the table.
She has sent out her maids to announceOn the heights of the town,
“Let the simple enter here.”To those devoid of sense she says,
“Come, eat my foodAnd drink the wine that I have mixed;
Give up simpleness and live,Walk in the way of understanding.”
To correct a scoffer,Or rebuke an evildoer regarding a blemish,Is to call down abuse on oneself.aOr rebuke an evildoer regarding a blemish, / Is to call down abuse on oneself Clauses transposed for clarity.
Do not rebuke scoffers, for they will hate you;Reprove the wise, and they will love you.
Instruct the wise, and they will grow wiser;Teach the righteous, and they will gain in learning.
The beginning of wisdom is fear of GOD,And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
For through me your days will increase,And years be added to your life.
If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;If you are a scoffer, you bear it alone.
The stupid woman bustles about;She is simple and knows nothing.
She sits in the doorway of her house,Or on a chair at the heights of the town,
Calling to all the wayfarersWho go about their own affairs,
“Let the simple enter here”;And to those devoid of sense she says,
“Stolen waters are sweet,And bread eaten furtively is tasty.”
He does not know that the shades are there,That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 10:1
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.”
The Path to Wisdom
Dhammapada 20:282
“Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Quran 39:9
“Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”