1. |
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee; |
2. |
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding; |
3. |
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding; |
4. |
If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures: |
5. |
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God. |
6. |
For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth `cometh' knowledge and understanding: |
7. |
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; `He is' a shield to them that walk in integrity; |
8. |
That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints. |
9. |
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, `yea', every good path. |
10. |
For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul; |
11. |
Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee: |
12. |
To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that 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 thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words; |
17. |
That forsaketh the friend 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 do they attain unto 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 land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it. |