Wisdom in Person Gives a Warning
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the open squares she raises her voice;
21 Down the crowded ways she calls out, at the city gates she utters her words:
22 “How long, you naive ones, will you love naivete,
23 How long will you turn away at my reproof? [The arrogant delight in their arrogance, and fools hate knowledge.] Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit. I will acquaint you with my words:
24 ‘Because I called and you refused, extended my hand and no one took notice;
25 Because you disdained all my counsel, and my reproof you ignored-
26 I, in my turn, will laugh at your doom; will mock when terror overtakes you;
27 When terror comes upon you like a storm, and your doom approaches like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish befall you.’
28 Then they will call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me, but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge, and the fear of the Lord they did not choose.
30 They ignored my counsel, they spurned all of my reproof;
31 Well, then, they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and with their own devices be glutted.
32 For the straying of the naive kills them, the smugness of fools destroys them.
33 But whoever obeys me dwells in security, in peace, without fear of harm