¹ My son,
if thou wilt receive my words,
and hide my commandments with thee;
² So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
and apply thine heart to understanding;
³ Yea,
if thou criest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
⁴ If thou seekest her as silver,
and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
⁵ Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD,
and find the knowledge of God.

⁶ For the LORD giveth wisdom:
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
⁷ He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous:
he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
⁸ He keepeth the paths of judgment,
and preserveth the way of his saints.
⁹ Then shalt thou understand righteousness,
and judgment,
and equity;
yea, every good path.

¹⁰ When wisdom entereth into thine heart,
and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
¹¹ Discretion shall preserve thee [shall guard over you],
understanding shall keep thee:
¹² To deliver thee from the way of the evil man,
from the man that speaketh froward things;
¹³ Who leave the paths of uprightness,
to walk in the ways of darkness;
¹⁴ Who rejoice to do evil,
and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked,
and they froward in their paths:
¹⁶ To deliver thee from the strange woman,
even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
¹⁷ Which forsaketh the guide of her youth,
and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
¹⁸ For her house inclineth unto death,
and her paths unto the dead.
¹⁹ None [Not any] that go unto her return again,
neither take they hold of the paths of life.
²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,
and keep the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright shall dwell in the land,
and the perfect shall remain in it.
²² But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth,
and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.