1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you, |
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding, |
3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding, |
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure, |
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God. |
6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
7 He holds victory in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, |
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones. |
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair-every good path. |
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. |
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you. |
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse, |
13 who leave the straight paths
to walk in dark ways, |
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, |
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways. |
16 It will save you also from the adulteress,
from the wayward wife with her seductive words, |
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.1 2:17 Or covenant of her God |
18 For her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead. |
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life. |
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of good men
and keep to the paths of the righteous. |
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it; |
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it. |
