¹¹ Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.^(A)

¹² Wisdom will save^(B) you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse,
¹³ who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways,^(C)
14 who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,^(D)
15 whose paths are crooked^(E)
    and who are devious in their ways.^(F)

¹⁶ Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,^(G)
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
¹⁷ who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.^[a](H)
18 Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.^(I)
19 None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.^(J)

²⁰ Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will live in the land,^(K)
    and the blameless will remain in it;
²² but the wicked^(L) will be cut off from the land,^(M)
    and the unfaithful will be torn from it.^(N)

³¹ Do not envy^(A) the violent
    or choose any of their ways.

³² For the Lord detests the perverse^(B)
    but takes the upright into his confidence.^(C)

¹² A troublemaker and a villain,
    who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
¹³     who winks maliciously with his eye,^(A)
    signals with his feet
    and motions with his fingers,^(B)
14     who plots evil^(C) with deceit in his heart—
    he always stirs up conflict.^(D)
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;^(E)
    he will suddenly^(F) be destroyed—without remedy.^(G)

⁶ Blessings crown the head of the righteous,
    but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.^[a](A)

¹¹ The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,^(A)
    but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.^(B)

¹² Hatred stirs up conflict,
    but love covers over all wrongs.^(C)

¹³ Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,^(D)
    but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense.^(E)

¹⁸ Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips^(A)
    and spreads slander is a fool.

¹³ A gossip betrays a confidence,^(A)
    but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.^(B)

¹⁵ The way of fools seems right to them,^(A)
    but the wise listen to advice.^(B)

¹⁶ Fools^(C) show their annoyance at once,^(D)
    but the prudent overlook an insult.^(E)

¹⁷ An honest witness tells the truth,
    but a false witness tells lies.^(F)

¹⁸ The words of the reckless pierce like swords,^(G)
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.^(H)

¹⁶ All who are prudent act with^[a] knowledge,
    but fools expose^(A) their folly.^(B)