1 ¶ My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments within thee

My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

2 s o that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to intelligence,

To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

3 y ea, if thou criest for understanding and givest thy voice unto intelligence,

For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

4 i f thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures,

If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

5 t hen shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

6 F or the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth comes knowledge and intelligence.

For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

7 H e keeps the person of the upright; he is a buckler to those that walk perfectly,

Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

8 k eeping the paths of judgment and the way of his merciful ones.

To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

9 T hen shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, every good path.

Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.

10 ¶ When wisdom enters into thine heart and knowledge is sweet unto thy soul,

For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

11 d iscretion shall preserve thee, intelligence shall keep thee

Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

12 t o deliver thee from the evil way, from the man that speaks perversion,

To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

13 w ho leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

14 w ho rejoice to do evil and delight in wicked perversion,

Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

15 w hose ways are crooked, and they are crooked in their paths;

Whose paths crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

16 t o deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words,

To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

17 w ho forsakes the prince of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.

Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

18 T herefore her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

19 N one that go unto her return again, neither do they take hold of the paths of life.

None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20 T hat thou may walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous.

That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

21 F or the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

22 B ut the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!