My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,

For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;

If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.

For wisdom will enter your heart
And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course.

Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His godly ones.

Discretion will guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,

To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things;

Whose paths are crooked,
And who are devious in their ways;

To deliver you from the strange woman,
From the adulteress who flatters with her words;

For the upright will live in the land
And the blameless will remain in it;

For her house sinks down to death
And her tracks lead to the dead;

From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness;

Who delight in doing evil
And rejoice in the perversity of evil;

That leaves the companion of her youth
And forgets the covenant of her God;

Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;

But the wicked will be cut off from the land
And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

None who go to her return again,
Nor do they reach the paths of life.

So you will walk in the way of good men
And keep to the paths of the righteous.

For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.