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.