1 M y son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

2 S o as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;

3 Y es, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

For 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:

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

5 t hen you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.

Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.

6 F or Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

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

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

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

8 t hat he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.

Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones.

9 T hen you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course.

10 F or wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

11 D iscretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you,

12 t o deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

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

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

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

14 w ho rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

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

15 w ho are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

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

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

To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words;

17 w ho forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

18 f or her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.

For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead;

19 N one who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20 t hat you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 F or the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

For 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. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.