1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou make thine ear attend unto wisdom, And thy heart incline to discernment;
3 Yea, if thou call for understanding, And lift up thy voice for discernment;
4 If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom, Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and discernment;
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright, He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
8 That He may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of His godly ones. .
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, Discernment shall guard thee;
12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak froward things;
13 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 Who are crooked in their ways, And perverse in their paths;
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the alien woman that maketh smooth her words;
17 That forsaketh the lord of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house sinketh down unto death, And her paths unto the shades;
19 None that go unto her return, 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 whole-hearted shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the faithless shall be plucked up out of it.