1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; ⁸

4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

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

11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

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

13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

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

17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, 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 earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. ⁹