2:1  My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,

2:2  So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;

2:3  Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,

2:4  If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;

2:5  Then you will understand the fear of the LORD,
And find the knowledge of God.

2:6  For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

2:7  He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

2:8  He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.

2:9  Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.

2:10  When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,

2:11  Discretion will preserve you;
Understanding will keep you,

2:12  To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things,

2:13  From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness;

2:14  Who rejoice in doing evil,
And delight in the perversity of the wicked;

2:15  Whose ways are crooked,
And who are devious in their paths;

2:16  To deliver you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words,

2:17  Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
And forgets the covenant of her God.

2:18  For her house leads down to death,
And her paths to the dead;

2:19  None who go to her return,
Nor do they regain the paths of life—

2:20  So you may walk in the way of goodness,
And keep to the paths of righteousness.

2:21  For the upright will dwell in the land,
And the blameless will remain in it;

2:22  But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,
And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.