[1] My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;
[2] So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;
[3] Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;
[4] If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:
[5] Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.
[6] For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:
[7] He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; He isa shield to them that walk in integrity;
[8] That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.
[9] Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, yea, every good path.
[10] For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
[11] Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:
[12] To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;
[13] Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
[14] Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;
[15] Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:
[16] To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;
[17] That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
[18] For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;
[19] None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
[20] That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
[21] For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.
[22] But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
