Proverbs

1My son, if you will receive my words,and store up my commandments within you,

2so as to turn your ear to wisdom,and apply your heart to understanding;

3yes, if you call out for discernment,and lift up your voice for understanding;

4if you seek her as silver,and search for her as for hidden treasures;

5then you will understand the fear of the LORD,and find the knowledge of God.

6For the LORD gives wisdom.Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

7He lays up sound wisdom for the upright.He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8that he may guard the paths of justice,and preserve the way of his saints.

9Then you will understand righteousness and justice,equity and every good path.

10For wisdom will enter into your heart.Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11Discretion will watch over you.Understanding will keep you,

12to deliver you from the way of evil,from the men who speak perverse things,

13who forsake the paths of uprightness,to walk in the ways of darkness,

14who rejoice to do evil,and delight in the perverseness of evil,

15who are crooked in their ways,and wayward in their paths,

16to deliver you from the strange woman,even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

17who forsakes the friend of her youth,and forgets the covenant of her God;

18for her house leads down to death,her paths to the departed spirits.

19None who go to her return again,neither do they attain to the paths of life.

20Therefore walk in the way of good men,and keep the paths of the righteous.

21For the upright will dwell in the land.The perfect will remain in it.

22But the wicked will be cut off from the land.The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,

2That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence:

3For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:

4If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:

5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God.

6Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.

7He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity.

8Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.

9Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.

10If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:

11Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,

12That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:

13Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:

14Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things:

15Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

16That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words:

17And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

18And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.

19None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life,

20That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.

21For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it.

22But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.