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