1. |
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; |
2. |
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; |
3. |
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; |
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 giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. |
7. |
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. |
8. |
He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. |
9. |
Then 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; |
11. |
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: |
12. |
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; |
13. |
Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; |
14. |
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; |
15. |
Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: |
16. |
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; |
17. |
Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. |
18. |
For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. |
19. |
None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. |
20. |
That thou mayest 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. |