1 My son, if you will receive my words,

and store up my commandments within you,

2 so as to turn your ear to wisdom,

and apply your heart to understanding;

3 yes, if you call 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 Yahweh,

and find the knowledge of God.

6 For Yahweh gives wisdom.

Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright.

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 that he may guard the paths of justice,

and preserve the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

equity and every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter into your heart.

Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11 Discretion will watch over you.

Understanding will keep you,

12 to deliver you from the way of evil,

from the men who speak perverse things,

13 who forsake the paths of uprightness,

to walk in the ways of darkness,

14 who rejoice to do evil,

and delight in the perverseness of evil,

15 who are crooked in their ways,

and wayward in their paths,

16 to deliver you from the strange woman,

even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

17 who forsakes the friend of her youth,

and forgets the covenant of her God;

18 for her house leads down to death,

her paths to the departed spirits.

19 None who go to her return again,

neither do they attain to the paths of life.

20 Therefore walk in the way of good men,

and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will dwell in the land.

The perfect will remain in it.

22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land.

The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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

2 so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] apply thine heart to intelligence,

3 [yea], if thou criest for understanding [and] givest thy voice unto intelligence,

4 if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as [for] hid treasures,

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

6 For the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth [comes] knowledge and intelligence.

7 He keeps the person of the upright; [he is] a buckler to those that walk perfectly,

8 keeping the paths of judgment and the way of his merciful ones.

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

10 When wisdom enters into thine heart and knowledge is sweet unto thy soul,

11 discretion shall preserve thee, intelligence shall keep thee

12 to deliver thee from the evil way, from the man that speaks perversion,

13 who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness

14 who rejoice to do evil [and] delight in wicked perversion,

15 whose ways [are] crooked, and [they are] crooked in their paths;

16 to deliver thee from the strange woman, [even] from the stranger [who] flatters with her words,

17 who forsakes the prince of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.

18 Therefore her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

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

20 That thou may walk in the way of good [men] and keep the paths of the righteous.

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

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