My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2:2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine 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 buckler 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; yea, every good path.
2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto 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 froward 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 frowardness of the wicked; 2:15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 2:17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
2:18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
2:19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they 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.
3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 3:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
3:14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
3:16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
3:18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
3:19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
3:21 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: 3:22 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
3:23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
3:26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
3:27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
3:28 Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.
3:29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
3:30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
3:31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
3:32 For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
3:33 The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
3:34 Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
3:35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
4:2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
4:3 For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
4:4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
4:6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
4:8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
4:9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
4:10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
4:11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.
4:12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
4:13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
4:15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
4:16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
4:17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
4:21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
4:22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
4:24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
4:27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: 5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 5:21 For the ways of man are