Heed the Calling

²⁰ Wisdom shouts in the street; in the public square she raises her voice. ²¹ Above the noisy crowd, she calls out. At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say: ²² “How long will you clueless people love your naïveté, mockers hold their mocking dear, and fools hate knowledge? ²³ You should respond when I correct you. Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you. I’ll reveal my words to you. ²⁴ I invited you, but you rejected me; I stretched out my hand to you, but you paid no attention. ²⁵ You ignored all my advice, and you didn’t want me to correct you. ²⁶ So I’ll laugh at your disaster; I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you, ²⁷ when terror hits you like a hurricane, and your disaster comes in like a tornado, when distress and oppression overcome you. ²⁸ Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will seek me, but won’t find me ²⁹ because they hated knowledge and didn’t choose the fear of the LORD. ³⁰ They didn’t want my advice; they rejected all my corrections. ³¹ They will eat from the fruit of their way, and they’ll be full of their own schemes. ³² The immature will die because they turn away; smugness will destroy fools. ³³ Those who obey me will dwell securely, untroubled by the dread of harm.”