Proverbs

2 My son, if you take what I say

and lay up my commands in your mind,

2 Giving a listening ear to wisdom

and directing your heart to intelligence,

3 If you call up discretion

and to intelligence you raise your voice,

4 If you hunt for it as you would for silver

and search for it as you would for buried treasure,

5 Then you shall understand the fear of Jehovah

and find the knowledge of God,

6 Because Jehovah gives wisdom;

out of his mouth come knowledge and intelligence;

7 He lays away sensible ideas for the upright,

shields those who walk conscientiously,

8 Protecting law-abiding ways

and guarding the road of the men of his friendship;

9 Then you shall understand right and justice

and fair dealing, every good line,

10 Because wisdom shall come into your heart

and knowledge be delicious to your soul;

11 Good judgment shall guard you,

intelligence shall keep you,

12 Delivering you from a bad course,

from men who talk mischief,

13 Those who leave straightforward ways

to go on roads of darkness,

14* Who are glad to do harm

and exult in mischief to a friend,

15 Whose ways are crooked

and they take dodging roads;

16 Delivering you from a stranger woman,

a smooth-talking foreigner,

17 That leaves the mate of her girlhood

and forgets the covenant of her god,

18* For her house is sinking to death

and her roads run to ghosts—

19 Any who go in to her will never come back

nor reach the ways to life,—

20 In order that you may walk in good men’s path

and keep to honest men’s ways,

21 Because straightforward men will people earth

and conscientious men remain in it,

22 But wrong-doers will be extirpated from earth

and faithless men torn out from it.