¹¹ Discretion will ^(A)keep you,
Discernment will guard you,
¹² To ^(B)deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks ^(C)perverse things;
¹³ From those who ^(D)forsake the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ^(E)ways of darkness;
¹⁴ Who are ^(F)glad to do evil
And they rejoice in the perversity of evil;
¹⁵ Whose paths are ^(G)crooked,
And who are devious in their tracks;
¹⁶ To deliver you from the ^[a](H)strange woman,
From the ^[b](I)foreign woman who flatters with her words;
¹⁷ Who forsakes the close ^(J)companion of her youth
And forgets the ^(K)covenant of her God;
¹⁸ For ^(L)her house ^[c]sinks down to death
And her tracks descend to the ^[d]dead;
¹⁹ All ^(M)who go to her will not return,
And they will not reach the ^(N)paths of life.
²⁰ So that you will ^(O)walk in the way of good men
And keep to the ^(P)paths of the righteous.
²¹ For ^(Q)the upright will dwell in the land
And ^(R)the blameless will remain in it;
²² But ^(S)the wicked will be cut off from the land
And ^(T)the treacherous will be ^(U)torn away from it.

^6 (A)Blessings are on the head of the righteous,
But ^(B)the mouth of the wicked covers up violence.

¹¹ The ^(A)mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
But ^(B)the mouth of the wicked covers up violence.
¹² Hatred stirs up strife,
But ^(C)love covers all transgressions.
¹³ On ^(D)the lips of the one who has understanding, wisdom is found,
But ^(E)a rod is for the back of him who lacks a heart of wisdom.

¹⁸ He ^(A)who covers up hatred has lying lips,
And he who spreads a bad report is a fool.