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

My son, if you receive my sayings and store up my teachings within you,

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

make your ear open to wisdom. Turn your heart to understanding.

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

If you cry out to know right from wrong, and lift your voice for understanding;

4 I f you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

if you look for her as silver, and look for her as hidden riches;

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

then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find what is known of God.

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

For the Lord gives wisdom. Much learning and understanding come from His mouth.

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

He stores up perfect wisdom for those who are right with Him. He is a safe-covering to those who are right in their walk.

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

He watches over the right way, and He keeps safe the way of those who belong to Him.

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

Then you will understand what is right and good, and right from wrong, and you will know what you should do.

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

For wisdom will come into your heart. And much learning will be pleasing to your soul.

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

Good thinking will keep you safe. Understanding will watch over you.

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

You will be kept from the sinful man, and from the man who causes much trouble by what he says.

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

You will be kept from the man who leaves the right way to walk in the ways of darkness,

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

from the one who is happy doing wrong, and who finds joy in the way of sin.

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

His ways are not straight and are not good.

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

You will be saved from the strange woman, from the sinful woman with her smooth words.

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

She leaves the husband she had when she was young, and forgets the agreement with her God.

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

For her house goes down to death, and her steps 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, and they do not find the paths of life.

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

So may you walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of those who are right and good.

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

For those who are right with God will live in the land. The men without blame will stay in it,

22 B ut the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

but the sinful will be destroyed from the land, and those who are not faithful will be taken away from it.