| 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. |