1 M y son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;

My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

2 S o as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

3 Y ea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

4 I f thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

5 T hen shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.

Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

6 F or Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:

For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

7 H e layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

8 T hat he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

9 T hen shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, yea, every good path.

Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.

10 F or wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

11 D iscretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

12 T o deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

13 W ho forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;

Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

14 W ho rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

15 W ho are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

Whose paths crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

16 T o deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

17 T hat forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:

Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

18 F or her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;

For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

19 N one that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20 T hat thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.

That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

21 F or the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.

For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

22 B ut the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!