21 My son, if you will take my words to your heart, storing up my laws in your mind; 2 So that your ear gives attention to wisdom, and your heart is turned to knowledge; 3 Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge; 4 If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth; 5 Then the fear of the Lord will be clear to you, and knowledge of God will be yours. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason: 7 He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil; 8 He keeps watch on the ways which are right, and takes care of those who have the fear of him. 9 Then you will have knowledge of righteousness and right acting, and upright behaviour, even of every good way.
10 For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul; 11 Wise purposes will be watching over you, and knowledge will keep you; 12 Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false; 13 Who give up the way of righteousness, to go by dark roads; 14 Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner; 15 Whose ways are not straight, and whose footsteps are turned to evil: 16 To take you out of the power of the strange woman, who says smooth words with her tongue; 17 Who is false to the husband of her early years, and does not keep the agreement of her God in mind: 18 For her house is on the way down to death; her footsteps go down to the shades: 19 Those who go to her do not come back again; their feet do not keep in the ways of life: 20 So that you may go in the way of good men, and keep in the footsteps of the upright. 21 For the upright will be living in the land, and the good will have it for their heritage. 22 But sinners will be cut off from the land, and those whose acts are false will be uprooted.
21 My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee, 2 To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding, 3 For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice, 4 If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her, 5 Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest. 6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding. 7 Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly. 8 To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth. 9 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!
