| New International Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, | 1My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, |
| 2turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding-- | 2listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; |
| 3indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, | 3furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, |
| 4and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, | 4if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, |
| 5then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. | 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. | 6For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
| 7He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, | 7He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity |
| 8for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. | 8so that He may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His loyal followers. |
| 9Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--every good path. | 9Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity--every good path. |
| 10For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. | 10For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart. |
| 11Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. | 11Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, |
| 12Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, | 12rescuing you from the way of evil-- from the one who says perverse things, |
| 13who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, | 13from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, |
| 14who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, | 14from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, |
| 15whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. | 15whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious. |
| 16Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, | 16It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a stranger with her flattering talk, |
| 17who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. | 17who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; |
| 18Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. | 18for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. |
| 19None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. | 19None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life. |
| 20Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. | 20So follow the way of good people, and keep to the paths of the righteous. |
| 21For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; | 21For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it; |
| 22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it. | 22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous uprooted from it. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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