2:1 | My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and treasure my commandments with thee; |
2:2 | So that thou incline thy ear to wisdom, [and] apply thy heart to understanding; |
2:3 | Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, [and] liftest up thy voice for understanding; |
2:4 | If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as [for] hid treasures; |
2:5 | Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. |
2:6 | For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding. |
2:7 | He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: [he is] a shield to them that walk uprightly. |
2:8 | He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. |
2:9 | Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; [and], every good path. |
2:10 | When wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul; |
2:11 | Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: |
2:12 | To deliver thee from the way of the evil [man], from the man that speaketh perverse things; |
2:13 | Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; |
2:14 | Who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the perverseness of the wicked; |
2:15 | Whose ways [are] crooked, and [they are] perverse in their paths: |
2:16 | To deliver thee from the strange woman, [even] from the adulteress [who] flattereth with her words; |
2:17 | Who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. |
2:18 | For her house inclineth to death, and her paths to the dead. |
2:19 | None that go to her return again, neither do they take hold of the paths of life. |
2:20 | That thou mayest walk in the way of good [men], and keep the paths of the righteous. |
2:21 | For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. |
2:22 | But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. |