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[1]My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
[2]So that thou incline thy ear to wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding;
[3]Yes, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
[4]If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
[5]Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
[6]For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
[7]He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
[8]He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
[9]Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; and every good path.
[10]When wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul;
[11]Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
[12]To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
[13]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 the wicked;
[15]Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
[16]To deliver thee from the strange woman, even 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 to death, and her paths to the dead.
[19]None that go to her return again, neither do they take hold of 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 earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
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