2 My son, if you will ^(A)receive my words
And ^(B)treasure my commandments within you,
^2 (C)To make your ear pay attention to wisdom,
Incline your heart to discernment;
³ For if you call out for understanding,
Give your voice for discernment;
⁴ If you seek her as ^(D)silver
And search for her as for ^(E)hidden treasures;
⁵ Then you will understand the ^(F)fear of Yahweh
And find the knowledge of God.
⁶ For ^(G)Yahweh gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and discernment.
⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright,
A ^(H)shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸ To guard the paths of justice,
And He ^(I)keeps the way of His holy ones.
⁹ Then you will understand ^(J)righteousness and justice
And equity—every ^(K)good track.
¹⁰ For ^(L)wisdom will enter your heart
And ^(M)knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹ Discretion will ^(N)keep you,
Discernment will guard you,
¹² To ^(O)deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks ^(P)perverse things;
¹³ From those who ^(Q)forsake the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ^(R)ways of darkness;
¹⁴ Who are ^(S)glad to do evil
And they rejoice in the perversity of evil;
¹⁵ Whose paths are ^(T)crooked,
And who are devious in their tracks;
¹⁶ To deliver you from the ^[a](U)strange woman,
From the ^[b](V)foreign woman who flatters with her words;
¹⁷ Who forsakes the close ^(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 descend to the ^[d]dead;
¹⁹ All ^(Z)who go to her will not return,
And they will not reach the ^(AA)paths of life.
²⁰ So that 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 dwell 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)torn away from it.