[1] Wisdom has built a palace supported on seven pillars, [2] and has prepared a great banquet, and mixed the wines, [3] and sent out her maidens inviting all to come. She calls from the busiest intersections in the city, [4] "Come, you simple ones without good judgment; [5] come to wisdom's banquet and drink the wines that I have mixed. [6] Leave behind your foolishness and begin to live; learn how to be wise." [7] If you rebuke a mocker, you will only get a smart retort; yes, he will snarl at you. So don't bother with him; he will only hate you for trying to help him. But a wise man, when rebuked, will love you all the more. [9] Teach a wise man, and he will be the wiser; teach a good man, and he will learn more. [10] For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding. [11] "I, Wisdom, will make the hours of your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful." [12] Wisdom is its own reward, and if you scorn her, you hurt only yourself. [13] A prostitute is loud and brash and never has enough of lust and shame. [14] She sits at the door of her house or stands at the street corners of the city, [15] whispering to men going by and to those minding their own business. [16] "Come home with me," she urges simpletons. [17] "Stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen apples taste the best!" [18] But they don't realize that her former guests are now citizens of hell.
