To be wise you must first have reverence for the LORD. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding.

God said to us humans, "To be wise, you must have reverence for the Lord. To understand, you must turn from evil."

The way to become wise is to honor the LORD; he gives sound judgment to all who obey his commands. He is to be praised forever.

Praise the LORD! Happy is the person who honors the LORD, who takes pleasure in obeying his commands.

After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.

"Foolish people! How long do you want to be foolish? How long will you enjoy making fun of knowledge? Will you never learn?

You have never had any use for knowledge and have always refused to obey the LORD.

You have never wanted my advice or paid any attention when I corrected you.

and you will say, "Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me?

I wouldn't listen to my teachers. I paid no attention to them.

It is foolish to ignore what your parents taught you; it is wise to accept their correction.

A fool does not care whether he understands a thing or not; all he wants to do is show how smart he is.

Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son.

Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up.

Because those people refuse to keep in mind the true knowledge about God, he has given them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the things that they should not do.