[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 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 hidden treasure, [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, and understanding shall keep thee, [12] to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from men 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 who are froward in their paths. [16] Wisdom will deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger, who flattereth with her words, [17] who 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] Thus thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep to 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.
