| 1 |
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;
|
| 2 |
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;
|
| 3 |
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;
|
| 4 |
If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:
|
| 5 |
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.
|
| 6 |
For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:
|
| 7 |
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
|
| 8 |
That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.
|
| 9 |
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, yea, every good path.
|
| 10 |
For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
|
| 11 |
Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:
|
| 12 |
To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that 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 thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;
|
| 17 |
That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
|
| 18 |
For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;
|
| 19 |
None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
|
| 20 |
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
|
| 21 |
For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.
|
| 22 |
But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
|