American Standard Version

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;

2 So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

4 If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.

6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding:

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [He is] a shield to them that walk in integrity;

8 That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, [yea], every good path.

10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

13 Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

17 That forsaketh the friend 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 do they attain unto 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 land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.