Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.

Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?

The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.