[1] My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,
[2] So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
[3] Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
[4] If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
[5] Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
[6] For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
[7] He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
[8] He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
[9] Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
[10] When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
[11] Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
[12] To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,
[13] From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;
[14] Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
[15] Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths;
[16] To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words,
[17] Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.
[18] For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead;
[19] None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life—
[20] So you may walk in the way of goodness, And keep to the paths of righteousness.
[21] For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it;
[22] But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.