[1]My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,[2]so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;[3]yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;[4]if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden 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 [come] knowledge and understanding.[7]He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;[8]guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones.[9]Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.[10]When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,[11]discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:[12]To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things;[13][from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;[14]who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;[15]whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:[16]To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;[17]who forsaketh the guide 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 to the paths of life:[20]-- that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, 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 unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.