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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, 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 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. | |
