| 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. |