^{1 Ref} My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;

^{2 Ref} So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

^{3 Ref} Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

^{4 Ref} If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

^{5 Ref} Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.

^{6 Ref} For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth `cometh' knowledge and understanding:

^{7 Ref} He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; `He is' a shield to them that walk in integrity;

^{8 Ref} That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

^{9 Ref} Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, `yea', every good path.

^{10 Ref} For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

^{11 Ref} Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

^{12 Ref} To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

^{13 Ref} Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;

^{14 Ref} Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

^{15 Ref} Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

^{16 Ref} To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

^{17 Ref} That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:

^{18 Ref} For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;

^{19 Ref} None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

^{20 Ref} That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.

^{21 Ref} For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.

^{22 Ref} But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.