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 dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

2To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

3For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

4If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

5Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

6For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

7Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

8To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

9Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness — every good path.

10For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

11Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

12To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

13Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

14Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

15Whose paths [are] crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

16To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

17Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

18For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

19None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

21For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

22And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!