¹¹ Foresight will stand guard over you.
Understanding will protect you.
¹² It will save you from the evil way,
from the man who speaks perverse things,
¹³ from those who abandon upright paths
    in order to walk in the ways of darkness.
¹⁴ It will save you from those who enjoy doing evil,
from those who celebrate the twisted ways of evil,
¹⁵ from those whose paths are crooked,
and from those whose ways are devious.

¹⁶ Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman,^[a]
from the unfaithful woman^[b] with her seductive words,
¹⁷ who abandons the husband of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God.
¹⁸ So she sinks down to death, which becomes her house.^[c]
Her way of life leads down to the spirits of the dead.
¹⁹ All who enter her house never return.
They never reach the paths of life.

²⁰ This is how to walk in the way of good people,
how to stay on the paths of the righteous.
²¹ Yes, the upright will live in the land,
and people with integrity will remain in it,
²² but wicked people will be cut off from the land,
and treacherous people will be torn out of it.

³¹ Do not envy a violent person.
Do not choose any of his ways,
³² because a crooked person is an abomination^[a] to the Lord,
but God’s friendly guidance leads^[b] the upright.

¹² A worthless, wicked scoundrel,
who goes around with a corrupt mouth,
¹³ who winks with his eye, signals with his foot,
and gestures with his fingers,
¹⁴ who plots evil with a deceitful heart—
he always spreads conflict.
¹⁵ Therefore his disaster will come upon him suddenly.
All at once he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

⁶ Blessings crown the head of a righteous person,
but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.^[a]

¹¹ The mouth of a righteous person is a fountain of life,
but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.^[a]
12 Hatred stirs up a quarrel,
but love covers all sins.
¹³ Wisdom is found on the lips of a discerning person,
but a rod is appropriate for the back of one who lacks sense.

¹⁸ Whoever conceals hatred has lying lips,
and whoever spreads gossip is a fool.

¹³ A gossip goes around betraying secrets,
but a trustworthy spirit keeps a matter confidential.

¹⁵ The way of a stubborn fool seems correct to him,
but whoever listens to advice is wise.
¹⁶ A stubborn fool immediately lets his annoyance be known,
but a sensible person overlooks an insult.
¹⁷ Whoever breathes the truth proclaims righteousness,
but a lying witness is deceitful.
¹⁸ Some people wield reckless words like the thrusts of a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁶ Every sensible person acts with knowledge,
but a fool displays stupidity.