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[1] My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
[2] So that thou incline thy ear to wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding;
[3] Yes, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
[4] If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
[5] Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
[6] For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
[7] He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
[8] He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
[9] Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; and every good path.
[10] When wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul;
[11] Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
[12] To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
[13] Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
[14] Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
[15] Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
[16] To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flattereth with her words;
[17] Who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
[18] For her house inclineth to death, and her paths to the dead.
[19] None that go to her return again, neither do they take hold of the paths of life.
[20] That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
[21] For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
[22] But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
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