2 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
² listening closely^[a] to wisdom
and directing your heart to understanding;
³ furthermore, if you call out to insight
and lift your voice to understanding,
⁴ if you seek it like silver
and search for it like hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and discover the knowledge of God.
⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
⁷ He stores up success^[b] for the upright;
He is a shield for those who live with integrity
⁸ so that he may guard the paths of justice
and protect the way of his faithful followers.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and integrity—every good path.
¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will delight you.
¹¹ Discretion will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you.
¹² It will rescue you from the way of evil—
from anyone who says perverse things,
¹³ from those who abandon the right paths
to walk in ways of darkness,
¹⁴ from those who enjoy doing evil
and celebrate perversion,
¹⁵ whose paths are crooked,
and whose ways are devious.
¹⁶ It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,
from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,
¹⁷ who abandons the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death
and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.
¹⁹ None return who go to her;
none reach the paths of life.
²⁰ So follow the way of the good,
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those of integrity will remain in it;
²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous ripped out of it.