2

The Value of Wisdom

  1My son, if you receive my words,
   And treasure my commands within you,
   2So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
   And apply your heart to understanding;
   3Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
   And lift up your voice for understanding,
   4If you seek her as silver,
   And search for her as for hidden treasures;
   5Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
   And find the knowledge of God.
   6For the Lord gives wisdom;
   From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
   7He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
   He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
   8He guards the paths of justice,
   And preserves the way of His saints.
   9Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
   Equity and every good path.
  10When wisdom enters your heart,
   And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
   11Discretion will preserve you;
   Understanding will keep you,
   12To deliver you from the way of evil,
   From the man who speaks perverse things,
   13From those who leave the paths of uprightness
   To walk in the ways of darkness;
   14Who rejoice in doing evil,
   And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
   15Whose ways are crooked,
   And who are devious in their paths;
   16To deliver you from the immoral woman,
   From the seductress who flatters with her words,
   17Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
   And forgets the covenant of her God.
   18For her house leads down to death,
   And her paths to the dead;
   19None who go to her return,
   Nor do they regain the paths of life—
   20So you may walk in the way of goodness,
   And keep to the paths of righteousness.
   21For the upright will dwell in the land,
   And the blameless will remain in it;
   22But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,
   And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.