001 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
002 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
003 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
004 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
005 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
006 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
007 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
008 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
009 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
010 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
011 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
012 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
013 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
014 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
015 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
016 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
017 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
018 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
019 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
020 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
021 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
022 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.