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My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,

That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence:

For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:

If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God.

Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.

He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity.

Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.

Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.

10 If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:

11 Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,

12 That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:

13 Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:

14 Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things:

15 Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

16 That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words:

17 And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

18 And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.

19 None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life,

20 That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.

21 For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it.

22 But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

My son,(A) if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding(B)
indeed, if you call out for insight(C)
    and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,(D)
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.(E)
For the Lord gives wisdom;(F)
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.(G)
He holds success in store for the upright,
    he is a shield(H) to those whose walk is blameless,(I)
for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful ones.(J)

Then you will understand(K) what is right and just
    and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,(L)
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.(M)

12 Wisdom will save(N) you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways,(O)
14 who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,(P)
15 whose paths are crooked(Q)
    and who are devious in their ways.(R)

16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,(S)
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a](T)
18 Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.(U)
19 None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.(V)

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,(W)
    and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked(X) will be cut off from the land,(Y)
    and the unfaithful will be torn from it.(Z)

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God