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

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

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

so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

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

yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

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

if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

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

then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

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

For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

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

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

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

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

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

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

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

When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

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

discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

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

to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

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

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;

who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

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

whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

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

to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

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

which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

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

For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

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

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

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

That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

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

For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

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

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