2:1  My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,

2:2  turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,

2:3  and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,

2:4  and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

2:5  then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

2:6  For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

2:7  He holds victory in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

2:8  for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

2:9  Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.

2:10  For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

2:11  Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.

2:12  Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,

2:13  who leave the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,

2:14  who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

2:15  whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.

2:16  It will save you also from the adulteress,
from the wayward wife with her seductive words,

2:17  who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.

2:18  For her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

2:19  None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.

2:20  Thus you will walk in the ways of good men
and keep to the paths of the righteous.

2:21  For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;

2:22  but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.