1
uSee ch. 1:8 My son,v[ch. 4:1, 10, 20; 7:1] if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voicewch. 4:1, 5, 7 for understanding,
4 if you seek it likexch. 3:14 silver
and search for it as foryJob 3:21; [Matt. 13:44] hidden treasures,
5 thenz[Ps. 25:14; John 7:17; 14:21] you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 ForaJob 32:8 the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he isbch. 30:5; See Ps. 3:3 a shield to those whocPs. 84:11 walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
andd1 Sam. 2:9; Ps. 66:9; 97:10 watching over the way of hiseSee Ps. 30:4 saints.
9 f[ver. 5] Then you will understandgch. 1:3 righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 hch. 1:4 discretion willich. 6:22 watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
tojPs. 82:5; [John 3:19, 20] walk in the ways of darkness,
14 whokJer. 11:15; [ch. 10:23] rejoice in doing evil
andl[Ps. 50:18; Rom. 1:32] delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whosemPs. 125:5; [ch. 21:8] paths are crooked,
nch. 14:2 and who areoch. 3:32 devious in their ways.
16 Sopch. 7:5 you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
fromqch. 6:24; 23:27 the adulteress withrch. 6:24; Ps. 5:9 her smooth words,
17 who forsakessJer. 3:4; [Ps. 55:13] the companion of her youth
and forgetst[Mal. 2:14, 15] the covenant of her God;
18 uch. 7:27 for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the uprightvch. 10:30 will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will bewSee Ps. 37:38 cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will bexch. 15:25; Deut. 28:63; Ps. 52:5 rooted out of it.