1: My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,
2: so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;
3: yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;
4: if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden 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 [come] knowledge and understanding.
7: He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
8: guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones.
9: Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.
10: When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,
11: discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:
12: To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13: [from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14: who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;
15: whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:
16: To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;
17: who forsaketh the guide 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 to the paths of life:
20: -- that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, 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 unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.