2 My son, if you will ^(A)receive my words
And ^(B)treasure my commandments within you,
^2 (C)Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
³ For if you cry for discernment,
^[a]Lift your voice for understanding;
⁴ If you seek her as ^(D)silver
And search for her as for ^(E)hidden treasures;
⁵ Then you will discern the ^(F)fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.
⁶ For ^(G)the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a ^(H)shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸ Guarding the paths of justice,
And He ^(I)preserves the way of His godly ones.
⁹ Then you will discern ^(J)righteousness and justice
And equity and every ^(K)good course.
¹⁰ For ^(L)wisdom will enter your heart
And ^(M)knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹ Discretion will ^(N)guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,
¹² To ^(O)deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks ^(P)perverse things;
¹³ From those who ^(Q)leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ^(R)ways of darkness;
¹⁴ Who ^(S)delight in doing evil
And rejoice in the perversity of evil;
¹⁵ Whose paths are ^(T)crooked,
And who are devious in their ways;
¹⁶ To ^(U)deliver you from the strange woman,
From the ^[b](V)adulteress who flatters with her words;
¹⁷ That leaves the ^(W)companion of her youth
And forgets the ^(X)covenant of her God;
¹⁸ For ^(Y)her house ^[c]sinks down to death
And her tracks lead to the ^[d]dead;
¹⁹ None ^(Z)who go to her return again,
Nor do they reach the ^(AA)paths of life.
²⁰ So you will ^(AB)walk in the way of good men
And keep to the ^(AC)paths of the righteous.
²¹ For ^(AD)the upright will ^[e]live in the land
And ^(AE)the blameless will remain in it;
²² But ^(AF)the wicked will be cut off from the land
And ^(AG)the treacherous will be ^(AH)uprooted from it.