WISDOM’S WORTH

2 My son, if you accept my wordsf

and store up my commands within you,

2 listening closelyA 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,g

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.h

7 He stores up successB for the upright;

He is a shield for those who live with integrityi

8 so that he may guard the paths of justice

and protect the way of his faithful followers.j

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.k

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,l

14 from those who enjoy doing evilm

and celebrate perversion,

15 whose paths are crooked,n

and whose ways are devious.o

16 It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,p

from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,q

17 who abandons the companion of her youthr

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.s

19 None return who go to her;

none reach the paths of life.t

20 So follow the way of the good,u

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will inhabit the land,

and those of integrity will remain in it;v

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,w

and the treacherous ripped out of it.x