^{1 Ref} My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

^{2 Ref} So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

^{3 Ref} Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

^{4 Ref} If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

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

^{6 Ref} For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

^{7 Ref} He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

^{8 Ref} He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

^{9 Ref} Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

^{10 Ref} When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

^{11 Ref} Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

^{12 Ref} To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

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

^{14 Ref} Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

^{15 Ref} Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

^{16 Ref} To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

^{17 Ref} Which forsaketh the guide 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 take they hold of 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 earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.