Proverbs

2 My son, if you accept my sayings

And treasure up my commandments,+

 2 By making your ear attentive to wisdom+

And inclining your heart to discernment;+

 3 Moreover, if you call out for understanding+

And raise your voice for discernment;+

 4 If you keep seeking for it as for silver,+

And you keep searching for it as for hidden treasures;+

 5 Then you will understand the fear of Jehovah,+

And you will find the knowledge of God.+

 6 For Jehovah himself gives wisdom;+

From his mouth come knowledge and discernment.

 7 He treasures up practical wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield for those walking in integrity.+

 8 He watches over the paths of justice,

And he will guard the way of his loyal ones.+

 9 Then you will understand what is righteous and just and fair,

The entire course of what is good.+

10 When wisdom enters your heart+

And knowledge becomes pleasant to your soul,*+

11 Thinking ability will keep watch over you,+

And discernment will safeguard you,

12 To save you from the bad course,

From the man speaking perverse things,+

13 From those leaving the upright paths

To walk in the ways of darkness,+

14 From those who rejoice in wrongdoing,

Who find joy in the perverseness of evil,

15 Those whose paths are crooked

And whose entire course is devious.

16 It will save you from the wayward* woman,

From the smooth* words of the immoral* woman,+

17 Who abandons the close companion* of her youth+

And forgets the covenant of her God;

18 For her house sinks down into death,

And her paths* lead to those powerless in death.+

19 None of those having relations with* her will return,

Nor will they regain the pathways of life.+

20 So follow the way of good people

And stay on the paths of the righteous,+

21 For only the upright will reside in the earth,

And the blameless* will remain in it.+

22 As for the wicked, they will be cut off from the earth,+

And the treacherous will be torn away from it.+