1My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,

2so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;

3yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;

4if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures:

5then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of ⁰God.

6For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.

7He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

8guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his ¹godly ones.

9Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.

10When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,

11discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:

12To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13[from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;

15whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:

16To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;

17who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her ²God;

18— for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead;

19none that go unto her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

20— that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it;

22but the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.