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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11 Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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