1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the
6 For the
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous:
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity;
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
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil,
15 Whose ways
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman,
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
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.