1 M y son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

2 M ake your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;

3 F or if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;

4 I f you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures;

5 T hen you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.

6 F or the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 H e stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 G uarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones.

9 T hen you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course.

10 F or wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

11 D iscretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you,

12 T o deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things;

13 F rom those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

14 W ho delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil;

15 W hose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways;

16 T o deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words;

17 T hat leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

18 F or her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead;

19 N one who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20 S o you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 F or the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it;

22 B ut the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.