2
1 My
son, if you
will receive
my words,
and store up
my commandments within
you,
2 so as to
turn your ear to
wisdom,
and apply your
heart to
understanding;
3 yes,
if you call
out for
discernment,
and lift up
your voice for
understanding;
4 if you
seek her as silver,
and search for her
as for hidden
treasures;
5 then
you will understand
the fear of
the LORD,
and find the
knowledge of
God.
6 For
the LORD gives
wisdom.
Out of his
mouth comes
knowledge and
understanding.
7 He lays
up sound wisdom for
the upright.
He is a
shield to those
who walk in
integrity,
8 that he may
guard the paths
of justice,
and preserve the
way of his
saints.
9 Then
you will understand
righteousness and
justice,
equity and every
good path.
10 For
wisdom will enter
into your heart.
Knowledge will be
pleasant to your
soul.
11 Discretion
will watch over
you.
Understanding will
keep you,
12 to
deliver you from
the way of
evil,
from the men who
speak perverse
things,
13 who forsake
the paths of
uprightness,
to walk in
the ways of
darkness,
14 who
rejoice to do
evil,
and delight in
the perverseness of
evil,
15 who
are crooked
in their ways,
and wayward in their
paths,
16 to
deliver you from
the strange woman,
even from the
foreigner who
flatters with her words,
17 who
forsakes the friend
of her youth,
and forgets the
covenant of
her God;
18 for
her house leads
down to death,
her paths to
the departed
spirits.
19 None
who go to
her return again,
neither do they
attain to the paths
of life.
20 Therefore
walk in the
way of good
men,
and keep the
paths of the
righteous.
21 For
the upright will
dwell in the land.
The perfect will
remain in it.
22 But
the wicked will
be cut off
from the land.
The treacherous will
be rooted out of
it.