My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.

To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

Whose paths are crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!

None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.