⁷ He stores up success^[a] for the upright;
He is a shield for those who live with integrity^(A)
8 so that He may guard the paths of justice
and protect the way of His loyal followers.^(B)
9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and integrity—every good path.
¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your mind,
and knowledge will delight your heart.
¹¹ Discretion will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you,^(C)
12 rescuing you from the way of evil—
from the one who says perverse things,
¹³ from those who abandon the right paths
to walk in ways of darkness,^(D)
14 from those who enjoy doing evil^(E)
and celebrate perversion,
¹⁵ whose paths are crooked,^(F)
and whose ways are devious.^(G)
16 It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,^(H)
from a stranger^[b] with her flattering talk,^(I)
17 who abandons the companion of her youth^(J)
and forgets the covenant of her God;
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death
and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.^(K)
19 None return who go to her;
none reach the paths of life.^(L)
20 So follow the way of good people,^(M)
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those of integrity will remain in it;^(N)
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,^(O)
and the treacherous uprooted from it.^(P)

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.^(A)
21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.^(B)
22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will talk to you.
²³ For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,^(C)
and corrective discipline is the way to life.^(D)
24 They will protect you from an evil woman,^[a]
from the flattering^[b] tongue of a stranger.^(E)