PROVERBS CHAPTER 1 - 8

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

The bulky book of Proverbs mostly runs
In fancy tunes proclaimed as Solomon’s.
The latter part has other names for funs.
Whoever penned these words of wisdom here
Deserves a toast and many thanks for cheer.
The Jews in Jamnia thought the heavenly host
Was good enough to make the canon’s boast
Of sacred Scripture. Who am little I
To come so lately and boldly deny?

Let Wisdom build her house of seven trees
Supporting royal faith under the breeze
Of timely doctrines out to fill and freeze,
I find the wisdom as a little word,
Not as a mistress wife of Sophia stirred.

PROVERBS 1

1 The proverbs of Solomon son
Of David, king of Israel spun.
2 To know wisdom and instruction,
To perceive words of understanding,
3 To receive the instruction landing
From wisdom, justice and judgement,
And equity in what is sent,
4 To give subtlety to the simple,
To the young man still with a dimple
Knowledge and discretion for pimple.
5 The wise will hear and will increase
His learning, and a man release
His understanding to attain
To the wise counsels not in vain.
6 To understand a proverb, and
The interpretations that stand,
The words of the wise and dark sayings
That they have left in their relayings.

I’m not sure that the sayings are so dark.
Proverbs are easy when they hit the mark.
Yet some interpretations might arise
From ambiguity among the wise.
I’ve noticed often that the texts of those
Who write on their account in prophet’s pose
Are often capable of twist and throes,
In contrast to the Decalogue that rose
In quiet dignity and without fail,
Not easy to misunderstand, like kale.
A child of eight can tell the common sense
Of what the Decalogue means without dents,
It’s only prophecies of men require
A wise head to avoid the mud and mire.

7 The fear of YHWH starts knowledge out;
Fools despise wisdom without doubt
And instruction like any clout.
8 My son, hear your father’s instruction,
And do not leave mother’s induction.
9 They’ll be fine jewels upon your head
And necklaces of gold instead.
10 My son, if sinners tempt you, do
Not consent to follow their cue.
11 If they say, come, let’s wait for blood
To ambush innocent in mud,
12 Let’s swallow them alive as in
The grave, and whole, as those in bin:
13 We’ll gain all precious things and fill
Our houses with spoil in the till.
Join us and keep a common purse.
15 My son do not join them for worse,
Keep your foot from the path of curse.
16 For their feet run an evil way
Quickly to shed blood as for pay.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread
While birds are watching for the dread.
18 They lie in wait for their own blood,
They lurk in secret for a dud.
19 So are the ways of everyone
Who’s greedy for gain on the bun,
And takes away the life of son.

Solomon’s thought that pure knowledge must rust
Into applied technology in dust
Of bloody lying in wait for the kill
Is apt upon this democratic hill,
Where rule of the majority in fact
Is law of jungle when the lobby’s tracked.
It’s quite another thing, after the view
Clear-eyed of our reality and true,
To say that all would be cured in the pew
If pure knowledge itself started in fear
Of what You, my Beloved, think and hold dear.
I side-tracked all the power ploy when I
Started as a youth to be smart to vie,
And now just enjoy knowledge like a pie.

20 Wisdom is crying out of doors,
She sends her voice along the stores.
21 She shouts at the cross-roads and in
The openings of the gates’ spin,
She speaks her words in city’s din.
22 How long, you simple ones, will you
Wallow in simplicity’s pew?
And scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge for adorning?
23 Repent at my reproof, behold,
I’ll pour my spirit on you bold,
I’ll make known my words in your fold.
24 Because I’ve called, and you refused,
I’ve stretched out my hand, all abused,
25 But you from my words are aloof,
You’ll have nothing of my reproof.
26 So I’ll laugh at calamity,
I’ll mock when your fear comes to be.
27 When your fear comes as desolation,
And your destruction as elation,
When distress and trouble find you.
28 Then they’ll call me, I’ll not give clue,
They’ll seek me early, without view.
29 Because they hated knowledge and
Did not choose the fear of YHWH’s hand.

Your Decalogue has cried in public places
Since Sinai thundered in our frightened faces,
And yet there’s not a single sect that bides
All ten of Your commandments on their sides.
I don’t say that the earthquake and the fire
Are punishment from You in Your desire,
But by these words of Solomon I rate
The human question why as simple plate.
It’s no use to ask why, when no one troubles
To follow Your advice while chasing bubbles.
Beloved, I look around catastrophe
And fail to ask why things happen to me.
Instead I ask the better question why
Do I and mine let Your commands pass by.

30 They would have nothing of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof’s pouncel.
31 That’s why they’ll eat the fruit they’ve planted,
And be filled with their own ways slanted.
32 Stupid folk will fall in their own
Stupidity and fools shall groan
Destroyed by their prosperity.
33 But those who take heed to my voice
Shall live in safety by their choice,
Free from fear of evil degree.

The world’s prosperity today is greater
Than ever before, though it did come later.
It’s based on military industry:
Destruction making room for goods in spree,
And selling fear, whose market’s never flooded
Like that of wheat and corn by the cold-blooded.
Experiment of Soviets was perfected,
That military spending once deflected
Could destroy all by its prosperity,
And so it’s now expanded sea to sea.
Not content with the profit of mere apples
Plucked in Eden, we now need more in grapples,
The bombs and missiles that line pocket-books
Destroy the world except elitist nooks.

PROVERBS 2

1 My son, if you’ll receive my words,
And hide my commandments in sherds
With you; 2 So you incline your ear
To wisdom, and your heart with fear
To understanding, 3 if you cry
After knowledge and lift your eye
To understanding, 4 if you seek
Her as silver and search the bleak
For her as for treasures to view,
5 Then you shall grasp the fear of YHWH,
And find knowledge of Ælohim.
6 For YHWH gives wisdom, from His tongue
Knowledge and understanding’s sung.

The commandments that You once spoke aloud
On Mount Sinai before the waiting crowd
Are wisdom to be sought with mind and heart,
As though of silver wrought, a treasured part.
The fair commandments hidden in the room
Of inner self delighting in their bloom
Are fruited with the fear of You to know
The knowledge from Your tongue that was not slow
To be the thunder and the lightning round
Mount Sinai running all along the ground.
Beloved, I grasp the Decalogue in state
Of wisdom and find knowledge on the plate,
And understanding of the sum of days,
Revealed and polished in Your name and praise.

7 He keeps salvation for the just,
A shield for those who walk the dust
In the perfection of His trust.
8 He guards the paths of justice and
Preserves the way of His saints’ band.
9 Then you shall understand the just,
And judgement and equity’s must,
Indeed, every good path uncurst.
10 When wisdom comes into your heart,
And knowledge is your pleasant part,
11 Discretion shall preserve your way,
Understanding save from astray,
12 To save you from the evil man,
From the one speaking in the span
Of scornfulness as though by plan
13 Who leaves the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Rejoicing to do evil things,
Delighting in the wicked rings;
15 Whose ways are crooked, they themselves
In their paths mischievous as elves.

The Decalogue is wisdom of the sort
That saves a man from punishment at court
By showing the right way to come to port.
No king stands against order and the way
Of keeping one’s hand from attack and sway.
But beyond safety from one’s own foul acts,
The Decalogue preserves from evil pacts,
From scornful and the robber on the day
They come out from their tents to run and play.
Beloved, I flee to Your commandments now
From the scornful that rake against my brow
Both words and deeds of evil at the plough.
I see their grand rejoicing come to naught,
The shadow fall on their delight in plot.

16 It saves you from the strange woman,
The stranger flattering by her plan;
17 Who forsakes the guide of her youth,
Forgetting her Allah of truth.
18 For her dwelling inclines to death,
Her ways to the shades without breath.
19 None that go to her shall return
To take hold of what life’s paths earn,
20 That you may walk in the good way,
And keep in righteous paths to stray.
21 The upright shall live in the land,
The perfect shall come there to stand.
22 The wicked are cut off from earth,
Transgressors rooted out of berth.

Solomon has in mind above all things
The problems that come to both chiefs and kings
From devious women with their lights and strings.
At one thousand, I guess experience knows
Enough to keep a man well on his toes.
But these false wenches that he fears are those
Who are not wives or concubines in rows,
But harlots taking in the secret dark
The whole queue waiting her outside the park.
Beloved, no doubt king Solomon is right
That living on the land is for upright,
And perfect ones shall be the ones who stand.
No doubt the song is true the wicked men
Shall be cut off, uprooted from the den.

PROVERBS 3

1 My son, do not forget my law,
But keep my commandments in awe.
2 For length of days and for long life,
And peace they shall give without strife.
3 Don’t let mercy and truth forsake,
Tie them around your neck and take
Their writing on Your heart for stake.
4 Then you’ll find favour understood
In sight of Ælohim and good
Men. 5 Trust in YHWH with all your heart,
Do not depend on your own part.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
He shall direct your paths not dim.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes,
Fear YHWH, and evil things despise.
8 It shall be health to body and
Relief to your bones when you stand.

Why not forget Your law, Beloved, and why
Keep Your commandments in awe on the sly?
The law that Solomon and wisdom speak
Is the same law I read from week to week,
The spoken from Sinai, the written fair
In scrolls of Moses, I see Your law there.
Some bind the sacred word on forehead and
Some tie them to the fingers of left hand,
Some then encapsulate them at the door.
But here You say to hang them out in score
As a gold necklace and a pendant’s mate.
So many are the ways to keep Your slate.
For my part I delight and most of all
To keep them in my heart on fleshly wall.

9 Honour YHWH with your strength of gear,
And the firstfruits of every year:
10 So your barns will be filled and fine,
Your presses gush with the new wine.
11 My son do not despise the rod
Of YHWH, nor tire upon the sod
From His correction: He is God.
12 The one YHWH loves He will instruct,
Just as a father will induct
The son in whom his delight’s tucked.
13 Ashrei Adam matza khokhmah,
Blessed is the man in wisdom’s claw,
The man able to understand.
14 Such things bought are better than grand
Items of silver and the gain
Of it’s better than fine gold’s skein.
15 She’s more precious than rubies’ stone,
All things desired cannot atone.
16 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left riches, honour stand.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths their peace confess.

The ancient folk thought that to honour You
It was enough to bring a goat in view
And slit its throat and flay the shaggy skin,
Then make a feast and dance with kith and kin.
The slaying of a goat is something nice
For those on holiday and thinking twice.
Your pedagogy is in wisdom’s claw,
Not in the satisfying of the maw.
The words You teach on how to live the life
Of herd and yeast without the struggle’s strife
Are finer than the wealth I do not get
For meditating on Your words I’ve met
And writing quaint rejoinders on the set.
Maybe I ought to buy myself a fife.

18 She is a tree of life to them
That lay hand holding on her hem,
And blessed are they that stay in stem.
19 YHWH by wisdom founded the earth,
By understanding set the girth
Of heaven. 20 By His knowledge the deep
Is broken up, the clouds fly steep
To drop down the dew where they creep.
21 My son, do not let them depart
From your eyes, keep within your heart
Sound wisdom and discretion’s part.
22 So shall they be life to your soul,
And grace to your neck as in toll.
23 Then you shall walk in safety’s way,
Your foot not to stumble or stray.
24 When you lie down, you shall not fear,
You shall lie down until appear
Sweetness of sleep on eye and ear.
25 Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,
Of wicked desolation’s tear,
When it comes. 26 For YHWH shall be your
Confidence and keep foot in store
From being taken. 27 Don’t withhold
The good from those to whom it’s due,
When it is in your power to do.
28 Don’t tell your neighbour, ”Go and come
Again tomorrow for the sum,”
When you have got it not yet sold.

It is a childish thing to say I’ll lend
Tomorrow, when today I need not spend
The wealth in store that could feed and clothe those
That stand there waiting in their patient rows.
The sudden fear comes on the populace
Despite Your ardent expressions of grace.
Ten thousand churches are initiate
In Africa, some better than the great,
And still the famine strikes the fevered land.
Beloved, hold out a full and helping hand,
Be it the hand of charity that winces
Or hand of angels sent as one convinces.
Let me withhold no good that I can do,
Whether in field or market or in pew.

29 Don’t invent wicked things to do
To your neighbour, who lives by you.
30 Don’t quarrel with a man in vain,
If he has done no harm or stain.
31 Do not envy oppressors’ days,
But be sure not to choose his ways.
32 The perverse man’s abomination
To YHWH, but righteous ones in station
Recognize him by his relation.
33 The curse of YHWH is on the house
Of the wicked, both man and spouse,
But He blesses the habitation
Of the just people in the nation.
34 He scorns indeed the scorners’ rate,
But gives grace to lowly estate.
35 The wise shall inherit the glory,
But shame shall be the fools’ last story.

It is, no doubt, a waste of time for me
To invent wicked things to do in spree
Against the fools that provoke in degree
Above forbearance in my neighbourhood.
Since I never fulfil my plans, no good
Comes of the habit. Quarreling though bides.
I’m glad You allow quarreling when he
Has done some harm in actuality.
The only quarreling You would avoid
Is when the neighbour is one overjoyed
To fail in real harm. So I’m glad to rate
Some harsh words on the wicked, roiling pate.
The way of the oppressor’s not to fuss:
He is conniving, not a blunderbuss.

PROVERBS 4

1 Hear, children, a father’s instruction,
Attend understanding’s deduction.
2 For I give you good teaching, draw
Not back from keeping then my law.
3 I was my father’s son, unique
And tender for my mom to seek.
4 He taught me also, and told me,
Let your heart continue to see
My words and keep my commandments,
And so you’ll come to live with sense.
5 Get wisdom and get understanding,
And don’t forget the reprimanding
From my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her,
And she shall preserve you, love her
And she shall keep you safe and sure.

When David transmitted the faithful word
To Solomon, he did so with heart stirred
To found a dynasty of lawfulness
That should come to all ages and to bless
All humankind, though only those few that
In every time and place came in and sat
Around the teaching of commandments bold
In Decalogue and in the Psalms are sold
And in the Proverbs more precious than gold.
Beloved, I take the son of David here
And turn against the throng that would appear
To go the other way. I find a place
Among the canopied couches and trace
Among the few the teachings of his race.

7 Wisdom’s the principal thing, get
Wisdom, and with all getting set
Out to find understanding met.
8 Exalt her, and she’ll promote you,
She’ll bring you honour in your due,
When you embrace her and her clue.
9 She’ll give your head a jewel of grace,
A crown of glory set in place.
10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings,
Your life’s years shall be many strayings.
11 I have taught you in wisdom’s way,
I’ve set you in right paths to stay.
12 When you walk, your steps will be firm,
And when you run, you’ll come to term.
13 Hold fast instruction, don’t let go,
Keep her, for she’s your life in show.
14 Don’t go into the wicked path,
Nor in the way of evil wrath.
15 Avoid it, don’t go near the way,
Turn aside from going astray.

At twelve years of age the teacher asked us
What we would like to be with age and fuss,
And others wanted to be farmers and
Scientists or businessmen in the land.
I only caused a consternation when
I said I’d be the wisest of all men.
I did not know then what a task I meant,
Excluded from all livelihood and bent
To seek wisdom both human and divine.
I’ve lived to learn the meaning of the line.
The wisdom that I sought left me bereft
Of all I thought I knew, till I had left
No shred of knowledge but still clung to You,
With wisdom out of reach but still in view.

16 They do not sleep till they have done
Some evil mischief on the run,
They lie awake and cannot sleep,
Till they cause some to fall down deep.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the just’s in the dress
Of shining light, increasing vents
Until the perfect day confess.
19 The wicked was is as darkness,
They trip on unfamiliar tents.

The bread of wickedness is small and round,
A little wafer of white to be found
Upon the altar where the wine is set
To turn to blood as soon as tinkling fret
Of bells proclaims the sweetness and the foul.
Ah! Paganism’s so refined a jowl
Since pedicidal sacrifice relents
To substitutions in church and convents!
Does Your wise man, Beloved, mean to say here
That even bread and wine taken in cheer
Is unacceptable as sacrifice
Of human beings on Baal’s good advice?
Beloved, Your attitude is arrogant
And bigoted. Tolerate Protestant.

20 My son, take heed to what I say,
Incline your ear to hear my way.
21 Don’t let them depart from your eyes,
Keep them in your heart and apprise.
22 They’re life to those who find them fresh,
And health to them and all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
For from it life issues with sense.
24 Put off from you a perverse mouth,
And unjust lips cast to the south.
25 Let your eyes look right on, and let
Your eyelids see straight to the set.
26 Ponder the path of your feet and
Let all your ways be set to stand.
27 Don’t turn to the right hand or left,
Remove your foot from evil cleft.

Sometimes the health or wealth of me or mine
Are in such state to keep me on the vine
Awake, or sometimes something fresh in mind,
A joy of a discovery and refined
Keeps slumber from my eyes as memory turns.
I’ve never yet experienced such burns
That the desire to do some damage earns.
I’ll take it on trust such souls have their urns.
Beloved, let me not turn to left or right
Of Your commandments seen in a clear light
Of eight small negatives and two things more:
Remembering Your name at Sabbath’s door,
And honouring my mom and dad a score.
Otherwise let me put up a good fight.

PROVERBS 5

1 My son, attend to my wisdom,
Bow ear to understanding’s sum,
2 That you may regard discretion,
Your lips keep knowledge in the sun.
3 The lips of a strange woman show
Sweet drops as from honeycomb’s flow,
Her mouth is smoother than oil’s go.
4 Her end is bitter as wormwood,
As sharp as a two-edged sword could.
5 Her mincing feet go down to death,
Her steps take hold on hell for breath,
6 To keep you from thinking things straight
About life, she moves at a rate,
Not to be known in any state.

Flavoured and scented lipstick’s nothing new,
It was around with Solomon and crew,
And so was a good metaphor defined
In contrast to the better end in mind.
It’s not the lipstick in itself that takes
The young man from the right path to the lakes
Of his destruction, but the fact that he
Follows a lady that’s not his to be.
Who knows was sicknesses arose back then
Among the gallant partners and her men,
But now at least the promise is one true
That death awaits the joining of her crew,
The institution itself still prevents
People from thinking clearly and with sense.

7 Hear me now then, children and do
Not depart from my words in clue.
8 Take a route that avoids the grouse,
Don’t come near the door of her house,
9 Or others shall receive your glory,
And your years end in cruel story.
10 Strangers will be filled with your wealth,
You’ll work in foreign towns with stealth.
11 You’ll mourn at last when your flesh and
Your body are consumed like brand.
12 You’ll say “Why did I hate the hand
That taught me, why was my heart hard
Against reproof, and has not starred
Obeying what my teachers said,
Why was my ear to them not led
That once poured wisdom in my head?”
14 I was on verge of full destruction
Before church and synagogue’s ruction.

Assemblies do have the affect upon
The young brought up in safety of the dawn
That they are not impressed by warning spoken,
Simply because the danger’s just a token.
It hasn’t been seen with the eye that glows
Upon reality, instead the shows
Of entertainment give the thing a twink.
Besides that, children don’t know how to think.
When I was in school, though, they brought in dolls
To show how filth and blackness joins the stalls
Of those who smoke. Perhaps a doll that’s choked
With syphilis would be better than yoked,
And something in reply when young folks joked.
Churches and synagogues live under palls.

15 Drink water from your own dug well
And streams from your own springs to tell.
16 Let your fountains be scattered round,
Rivers upon the streets and ground.
17 Let them be only of your own,
And without strangers be alone.
18 May your fountain be blessed and glad
With the wife as a youth you had.
19 The loving hind and pleasant roe,
Let her breasts be enough in row,
Be ravished with her love and stow.
20 Why will you, my son, be attracted
By a strange woman and enacted
With the bosom of stranger’s fare,
When such is found near everywhere?
21 The ways of man before YHWH’s eyes,
Of all his goings He is wise.
22 His own iniquities shall take
The wicked himself, for his sake,
He shall be bound with cords of sin.
23 He’ll die without instruction’s din,
And in the greatness of his folly
He’ll go astray from right, by golly.

My well is really beautiful beneath
The ancient lilacs growing there in wreath.
The hundreds of blue eyes that Scylla makes
Around the flowing spring within me wakes
No fear at all. Charybdis it appears
Has long since gone away. I have no fears.
The water’s sweet in my own well and I
Refused the pipes the city on the sly
At last brought past our property and by
The highway that sends people on the fly.
Beloved, my own well is enough in view
In summer under morning coats of dew
On lady’s mantle, and in winter’s dress
When humps of snow make the well’s site a guess.

PROVERBS 6

1 My son, if you have undersigned
A note for a friend, and resigned
Agreed to be the surety
Of a stranger and pay his fee,
2 You’re snared in the words of your mouth,
You’re taken up by your own mouth.
3 So do this, my son, save yourself,
When you’re caught by the hand of elf,
Go, humble yourself and make sure
Your friend works hard to pay the cure.
4 Do not give sleep to your eyes then
Or take your rest among his men.
5 Save yourself like a deer that runs,
Like a bird from the fowler’s buns.
6 Go to the ant, you lazy man,
Consider her ways and her plan.
7 She has no guide or overseer,
Or ruler, but she is the freer
8 To earn her food in summer time,
And gather harvest in its prime.

A great anthill appeared this year near by
My house, in the woods few steps if you try,
You’ll find it on the right, good two feet high.
Next year it may be bigger, now who knows?
It’s in protected area where grows
The mighty fern, anemones in rows.
I pass the thing six or eight times a day,
But never once stopped in to greet or say
A welcome to the neighbourhood to play.
It seems these times that neighbours rarely seek
Moments to stop and pass the day or speak.
I hardly know the name of these ones and
I doubt I could remember out of hand
So many names of folk in such a band.

9 How long will you sleep, lazy man?
When will you get up, if you can?
10 Just a little more time to rest,
To fold the hands in sleep on breast!
11 So shall your poverty arrive
As one upon a journey thrive,
And your lack come up suddenly
Like an armed robber in the tree.
12 A foolish man and wicked one
Goes round with perverse words by ton.
13 He winks an eye, he shifts a foot,
He signals with a finger put.
14 Perverseness lies down in his heart,
He invents mischief for his part,
He sows discord by word and art.
15 Therefore shall his calamity
Come down on him and suddenly,
He’s broken without remedy.
16 These six things does YHWH hate the most,
Seven indeed in silly boast:
17 A proud look and a lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood rung,
18 A heart full of wicked plans made,
Feet swift to mischief on parade,
19 A false witness who speaks in lies,
One who sows discordant replies
Among his brothers without sighs.

If there are seven holy ones to serve
And seven divine guides who do not swerve
From the right way, there are also their mates
Who trample righteous ways and righteous fates.
The pride of one who knows no unity
Of divine will and being, lying tongue,
And hands that take blood and from court go free,
And wicked hearts with plans not to be sung,
The evil footstep, and false witness share
Your frown, and yet there’s one remaining there.
Human discord comes from the fateful thought
That all men are in separate dealings taught,
While truth is that Your oneness must imply
A oneness among men beneath the sky.

20 My son, keep your father’s command,
Do not forsake your mother’s hand.
21 Tie them always upon your heart,
And bind them round your neck to start.
22 When you walk it shall lead you there,
When you sleep it shall keep you ware,
And when you wake up it shall talk
With you and tell you how to walk.
23 For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light on the ramp,
Reproofs instruct life and revamp,
24 To keep you from the evil dame,
Flattering tongue of a strange flame.
25 Do not lust for her beauty’s part
In your heart, neither take her part
Because her eyelids flutter start.
26 For by means of a harlot one
Comes to a crust of bread when done,
And an adulteress will prey strife
Every day on his precious life.

The true light is not in the brightened eyes,
Nor in the meditation of the wise,
But in commandments You, Beloved, sent down
To guide both humble and men of renown.
The true light is not lifted adoration,
Inspiring thoughts, but rather revelation
That might grate on elation and desires.
The altar holds both holy and strange fires.
The flattering of tongue to downhill paths
Perfumes the way to silken asses’ baths.
I take my crust and cup to where You speak
And find in word recited light I seek.
Let none seduce me with the glorious light
That recognizes neither wrong nor right.

27 Can fire be kept on human breast
Without burning jacket and vest?
28 Can anyone walk on hot coals
Without his feet burning on shoals?
29 So too one sleeping with the wife
Of neighbour gains guiltiness’ strife.
30 Men do not look down on a thief
Stealing when hungry for relief.
31 But if he’s caught, he’ll have to give
Back seven times more than in the sieve;
He’ll give his house, substance and all.
32 But the one who’s caught in the thrall
Of adultery with woman’s gall
Has no understanding at all.
Such a one destroys soul in stall.
33 A sickness and dishonour he
Shall get, and his reproach shall be
Not wiped away eternally.
34 For jealousy is rage of man,
So he’ll not wait until the span
Of the day of vengeance in plan.
35 He’ll not accept indemnity,
He’ll not be satisfied to be,
Though you give many gifts in fee.

It is a strange thing in that ancient day
That great and small considered that the play
Of copulation was the needful way
To get the crops to grow and in their way
The flocks and herds to propagate in sway,
And yet the jealousy of man for man
Prevented free access to yoke in span.
The same occasion waits upon the hour
Today when pagan scientific power
Looks with the greatest favour on the free
Frenetic copulation in the spree.
Men still find jealous hearts for motive great
To go out and kick others in the gate.
The gift and satisfaction are one rate.

PROVERBS 7

1 My son, keep my words and lay up
My commandments to keep in cup.
2 Keep my commandments, and you’ll live,
My law’s apple of the eyes give.
3 Bind them upon your fingers too,
Write them on your heart’s tables due.
4 Tell wisdom ”You’re my sister true”
Call understanding your kin’s crew.
5 They may keep you from wenches’ wrong,
From strangers with flattering song.
6 For at the window of my house
I looked through window pane like mouse,
7 And saw among the simple ones,
Among the young folk, a young man
Without understanding or plan.
8 He passed through the street near her corner,
He went to her house without warner.
9 At twilight, in the evening in
The black and dark of the night’s din,
10 He met a woman with a dress
On like a whore, cunning to mess.
11 She’s raucous and has her own way,
Her feet at home refuse to stay.
12 She ranges in the streets and lies
In wait at every corner’s guys.

Did never any man seduce a maid?
Why all this innocence of male parade,
As though all evil comes from women’s store
And men are always righteous at the door,
Except that wenches entice them the more?
It takes two fools to find adultery
Is the highway desired by those thought free.
She ranges not alone who seeks her prey,
The young man too is out with coin to pay.
If Solomon had warned the maid of those
Brave, raucus, boisterous cads lined up in rows
There’s many maid that might have stayed on toes
And kept her purity despite the will
Of royal princes under Zion’s hill.

13 So she caught him and kissed him too,
An impudent face in his view
And said to him against the true,
14 I’ve offered up the sacrifice,
Today I’ve paid my vows for vice.
15 That’s why I came out to meet you,
Seeking your face among the crew,
And at last I came and found you.
16 I’ve decked my bed with coverings
Of tapestry and with carved things,
With fine linen as Egypt brings.
17 I’ve scented my bed with the myrrh,
Aloes and cinnamon to stir.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love
Until the morning raise its glove,
And comfort us in treasures’ trove.
19 My husband is not now at home,
Gone on a journey out to roam.
20 He took a bag of siller too,
To stay until the day he’s due.

In old days men and women met to make
The sacrifices for the common sake
Of grand fertility, and in their joy,
Joined in the copulation to employ
The sacred groves and temples like a cake.
We have the churches still where sacrifice
With jangling rock and roll makes all things nice,
And preachers from the tv screen relate
With sensitive appreciation’s rate
To those who offer bed and sweet perfume,
A secret tryst with playthings in their room.
Beloved, the Canaanite religion still
Thrives on each Roman and Genevan hill,
In every place the cross would foot the bill.

21 With her much speech and cajoling
She caused him to yield to the thing,
With flattering of her lips she
Forced him to act unfaithfully.
22 He followed after her direct
As an ox to the slaughter necked,
Or as a fool to punishment
Of the stocks where he has been sent.
23 As a dart strikes through liver’s ware,
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He does not know his life’s in care.
24 Listen to me now then, children,
Attend to my mouth’s words again.
25 Don’t let your heart follow her ways,
Deceived in her paths where it strays.
26 She’s overthrown many a man
Wounded to death, many by plan
Have been killed by her as she can.
27 Her house is on the way to hell,
Down to death’s chambers at a spell.

The ox led to the slaughter is a figure
Of speech that fits in several kinds of wigure.
The prostitute is only one of many
Who lead a man to death for just a penny.
The prostitution of the advertiser
Is far more dangerous than that of miser.
The prostitution of the church and state
Produced a list of doctrines to relate
That since have been the masters of the fate
Of men and women just and pure, though late
To cast their faith on Sun worship and Baal
Gathered in Sunday worship and for sale.
Beloved, I rush with eager step to You
The day before, my love is fresh and true.

PROVERBS 8

1 Does wisdom not shout aloud, and
Understanding sound voice at hand?
2 She stands in the top of high places,
By the paths where men run their races.
3 She cries at the gates to come in
The city, at the doors with din.
4 ”I’m calling all men with my voice,
You sons of men, come and rejoice.”
5 O you simple people, come try
To understand the wise way nigh,
And you fools, have a learning heart.
6 Hear, for I’ll speak of costly part,
And open lips with right things’ art.
7 Indeed my mouth shall speak the truth,
And wickedness to my lips’ youth
Is abomination uncouth.

A child learns early that to speak the truth
Will only lead to punishment uncouth.
The truth is something humankind cannot
Abide a single moment in a slot.
No wonder wisdom’s shouting goes amiss
And no one stops to hear or get a kiss.
No wonder pounding on the gates is fraught
With nothing but the echoes where she sought.
The truth You promise? No, let me now flee
To lies and quiet customs of the wee.
Beloved, I’ve lived to know that the truth stated
Arouses ire of rich and poor elated.
In my stupidity I looked for that
Shouting wisdom. I am a stupid cat.

8 All my mouth’s words are righteousness,
I’ve no perverseness in address.
9 They’re all plain to the understanding,
And right to those in knowledge landing.
10 Take my teaching, not silver cold,
And knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 Better than rubies, wisdom find,
All things desired are not in kind
To be compared to it combined.
12 I wisdom deal in counsels deep,
I’ve found knowledge of all things steep.
13 YHWH’s fear’s to hate evil and pride,
And arrogance and wicked ride,
The perverse mouth I hate beside.

Wisdom cannot abide the perverse mouth,
And yet there’s hardly else from north to south.
The rubies shine and tempt the wicked hand
To robbing the rich women of the land,
But when I held to knowledge sweeter far,
I found I was the one shut behind bar.
Plain understanding makes a man perverse
To church and state and subject to their curse.
Find wisdom, yes indeed, and with the finding
Find ostracism from the gilded binding.
Beloved, after the pains of light to bear
In eyes not so accustomed to its share,
I chose at last wisdom as from the first,
And rest now satisfied among the cursed.

14 Counsel and justice are mine, I
Have understanding and strength’s tie.
15 By me kings reign and heads of state
Decree justice. 16 By me do rule
Princes and nobles and the school
Of judges of the earth. 17 I love
Them who love me, and those who seek
Me early shall find me not meek.
18 Riches and honour are with me;
Riches and righteousness’ degree.
18 My product is better than gold,
Better than finest gold that’s sold,
My profits than choice silver told.
20 I lead the way of righteousness,
The paths of judgement I confess.
21 I enrich those who love my measure,
And I will come to fill their treasure.

By wisdom those who truly ruled in time
And place where holy strategy in crime
Was still that honesty pays in the climb,
Gave up the grand desire to keep the state
In the oppression of the small and great.
But wisdom is no longer such a tool.
Today it’s cunning shifts for every fool.
The hopeful cast of eye to golden pool
Is just a myth’s nostalgia. I am sure
That wisdom never had a place made pure
Among the rival nations of all men.
This world has always been impoverished den
Where wisdom passes in a golden coach
Seen only by those not crap-shooting roach.

22 YHWH possessed me from His way’s start,
Before His ancient works of art.
23 I was set up from days of old,
From the beginning and all told
Before the earth was bought or sold.
24 When there was no Tehowm I’m born,
Before rushing waters adorn.
25 Before the mountains had been set,
Before the hills my birth was met,
26 While as yet He had not made earth,
Nor the fields nor the highest berth
Of the dust of the world in mirth.
27 When He prepared the skies I stood,
When He set the directions good
Upon the surface of Tehowm,
28 When He set clouds above at home,
When He strengthened springs of Tehowm,
29 When He gave the sea His decree,
That waters pass not His degree,
When He appointed earth’s foundations;
30 Then I was by Him as in rations,
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always at His right,
31 Rejoicing where His earth gave dwelling,
My delights with mankind were swelling.

The great Tehown that the first words relate
To those reading the Scriptures in the state
Of Hebrew here appears again as great.
Wisdom is of an older settlement,
A deeper foundation than Tehowm’s vent.
To ancient mind no doubt Tehowm was deep
In absolute and ancient as was steep.
But wisdom prides herself that she was there
When the Tehowm was set down fair and square.
Beloved, I too rejoice to know the world
And all the universe undone, unfurled,
Is caught up in the round of wisdom’s vice.
Wisdom’s salvation, and not sacrifice,
Wisdom’s the lowered boom on all that’s nice.

32 So listen to me now, children,
Blessed are those who keep my ways then.
33 Hear teaching and be wise and yet
Not refuse wisdom when it’s met.
34 Blessed is the man who does hear me,
Waiting each day where my gates be,
Hoping at my doorposts to see.
35 Those who find me also find life,
They get YHWH’s favour without strife.
36 The one who sins against me wrongs
His own soul, all those in their throngs
Who hate me love their own death songs.

Let me, Beloved, keep wisdom’s ways I hear
As soon as Your word comes trumpeting near,
Reciting once again from Sinai’s hill
The orders of the regiment and bill.
Let me, Beloved, keep ten commandments true
That are the express image taught of You,
And find their joys reflected in my face
As I whirl round and round this desert place.
The tinkling syllables flash on the trees
Where ice cracks from the birches in the breeze,
And strikes my ear like silver bells and gold
Returning on the grated crystal mould.
Beloved, I hear again Your law sung bright
In the brief day of winter before night.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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