Proverbs 1:1–33 — Quiet from Fear of Evil EN

Lyrics

[50 BPM hearth-sleep atmosphere; low wooden body resonance fills a small warm room]
[two soft felt-piano notes; long natural decay]
[close male voice, sheltered and human, almost immediately present]
[spoken intimately, unhurried, every consonant clear]

Proverbs Chapter One

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

To know wisdom and instruction;
to perceive the words of understanding;

To receive the instruction of wisdom,
justice, and judgment, and equity;

To give subtilty to the simple,
to the young man knowledge and discretion.

[muted cello enters beneath the voice; no swell, only warmth]

A wise man will hear,
and will increase learning;
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

To understand a proverb,
and the interpretation;
the words of the wise,
and their dark sayings.

[quiet harmonic movement in felt piano; viola joins as a distant bowed shadow]

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

[brief room-breath; wood resonance remains]

My son,
hear the instruction of thy father,
and forsake not the law of thy mother:

For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head,
and chains about thy neck.

[voice draws slightly closer; strings remain muted and restrained]

My son,
if sinners entice thee,
consent thou not.

If they say,
Come with us,
let us lay wait for blood,
let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

Let us swallow them up alive as the grave;
and whole,
as those that go down into the pit:

We shall find all precious substance,
we shall fill our houses with spoil:

Cast in thy lot among us;
let us all have one purse:

[low piano answer; no percussion, no sharpened attack]

My son,
walk not thou in the way with them;
refrain thy foot from their path:

For their feet run to evil,
and make haste to shed blood.

Surely in vain the net is spread
in the sight of any bird.

And they lay wait for their own blood;
they lurk privily for their own lives.

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;
which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

[weightless drop; cello and viola disappear completely]
[only close voice, felt keys, low wooden resonance, and natural room decay]
[slightly more space around each phrase]

Wisdom crieth without;
she uttereth her voice in the streets:

She crieth in the chief place of concourse,
in the openings of the gates:
in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

[female voice for Wisdom, close and calm, grave rather than theatrical]
[soft bowed texture begins far behind her, barely audible]

How long,
ye simple ones,
will ye love simplicity?
and the scorners delight in their scorning,
and fools hate knowledge?

Turn you at my reproof:
behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.

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

But ye have set at nought all my counsel,
and would none of my reproof:

[low felt-piano note answers; harmony darkens almost imperceptibly]

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

When your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

[muted cello returns as one long low bow; intensity remains narrow and controlled]

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

For that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

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

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,
and be filled with their own devices.

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

[strings slowly thin away]
[felt piano remains with mellow bass warmth beneath the final sentence]
[Wisdom softens without losing authority]

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,
and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

[long peaceful room decay]
[isolated felt-piano note]
[another softer note after a long breath]
[wood resonance alone]
[fade progressively toward silence]