1 M y son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

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

2 T o cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

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

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

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

4 I f thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

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

5 T hen understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

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

6 F or Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

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

7 E ven to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

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

8 T o keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

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

9 T hen understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.

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

10 F or wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

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

11 T houghtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12 T o deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

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

13 W ho are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 W ho are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

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

15 W hose paths crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

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

16 T o deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

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

17 W ho is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

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

18 F or her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

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

19 N one going in unto her turn back, 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 T hat thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

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

21 F or the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

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

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

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