¹

My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,

²

So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;

³

Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,

⁴

If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;

⁵

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.

⁶

For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

⁸

He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.

⁹

Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.

¹⁰

When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,

¹¹

Discretion will preserve you;

¹²

To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,

¹³

From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴

Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked;

¹⁵

Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths;

¹⁶

To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words,

¹⁷

Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.

¹⁸

For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead;

¹⁹

None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life—

²⁰

So you may walk in the way of goodness, And keep to the paths of righteousness.

²¹

For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it;

²²

But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.