2 My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,

² so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;

³ yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;

⁴ if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures:

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

⁶ For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.

⁷ He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

⁸ guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones.

⁹ Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.

¹⁰ When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,

¹¹ discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:

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

¹³ [from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴ who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;

¹⁵ whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:

¹⁶ To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;

¹⁷ who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God;

¹⁸ —for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead;

¹⁹ none that go unto her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰ —that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹ For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it;

²² but the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.