The Benefits of Wisdom

1My son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee;

2thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son.

3For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding;

4and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

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

6For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence come knowledge and understanding,

7and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;

8that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.

9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgement; and shalt direct all thy course aright.

10For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul,

11good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee;

12to deliver thee from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.

13Alas for those who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness;

14who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16to remove thee far from the straight way, and to estrange thee from a righteous purpose. My son, let not evil counsel overtake thee,

17of her who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God.

18For she has fixed her house near death, and guided her wheels near Hades with the giants.

19None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life.

20For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy.

21For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it.

22The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.