2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;

2:2 So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

2:3 Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

2:4 If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.

2:6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding:

2:7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [He is] a shield to them that walk in integrity;

2:8 That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

2:9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, [yea], every good path.

2:10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

2:11 Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

2:12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

2:13 Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;

2:14 Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

2:15 Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

2:17 That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:

2:18 For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;

2:19 None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

2:20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.

2:21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.

2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.