1My son, if you accept my wordsa
and store up my commands within you,
2listening closelyA to wisdom
and directing your heart to understanding;
3furthermore, if you call out to insight
and lift your voice to understanding,
4if you seek it like silver
and search for it like hidden treasure,a
5then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and discover the knowledge of God.
6For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.a
7He stores up successA for the upright;
He is a shield for those who live with integritya
8so that he may guard the paths of justice
and protect the way of his faithful followers.a
9Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and integrity — every good path.
10For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will delight you.
11Discretion will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you.a
12It will rescue you from the way of evil —
from anyone who says perverse things,
13from those who abandon the right paths
to walk in ways of darkness,a
14from those who enjoy doing evila
and celebrate perversion,
15whose paths are crooked,a
and whose ways are devious.b
16It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,a
from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,b
17who abandons the companion of her youtha
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18for her house sinks down to death
and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.a
19None return who go to her;
none reach the paths of life.a
20So follow the way of the good,a
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those of integrity will remain in it;a
22but the wicked will be cut off from the land,a
and the treacherous ripped out of it.b
