¹My son, if you accept my sayings,

And treasure up my commandments with you,

²By your ear paying heed to wisdom,

And if you incline your heart to understanding

³– Indeed, if you call out for discernment,

And if you devote your voice to asking for understanding,

⁴If you seek it like silver,

And search for it like hidden treasure,

⁵Then you will understand the fear of the Lord

And find knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord will give wisdom;

Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth.

⁷ And he will store up resourcefulness for the upright.

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

⁸By maintaining paths of justice;

He keeps the way of those under his grace.

⁹And then you will understand righteousness and justice,

And uprightness – every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart,

And knowledge will be a delight to your being.

¹¹Thoughtfulness will guard you;

Understanding will protect you,

¹²In saving you from the way of the wicked

– From the man speaking subversive things

¹³– From those who leave upright paths

To walk in paths of darkness

¹⁴– From those who take pleasure in doing evil,

And rejoice in the subversive ways of evil,

¹⁵Whose ways are perverse,

And who are devious in their paths,

¹⁶And by saving you from the stranger-woman

– From the foreign lady who flatters with her talk,

¹⁷Who leaves the mentor of her youth

And forgets the covenant of her God,

¹⁸For she has sunk into what brings the death of her household,

And her paths lead to the Rephaim.

¹⁹None who come to her return,

And they do not attain to the paths of life.

²⁰My sayings are so that you may walk in the way of the good,

And keep to the paths of the righteous,

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land,

And those with integrity will remain in it,

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land,

And the treacherous will be wrenched out of it.