Wisdom calls aloud outside;
she raises her voice in the open squares.
She cries out in the main streets,
in the gateways of the city she speaks her words:

"How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
If you had responded to my rebuke,
I would have poured out my heart to you
and made known my thoughts to you.
But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
since you ignored all my advice
and would not accept my rebuke,
I in turn will laugh at your disaster,
I will mock when calamity overtakes you —
when your terror overtakes you like a storm,
and destruction sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

"Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me.
Since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord,
since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled to the full with their own schemes.
For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and will be secure, without fear of evil."