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.
