2:1  My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2:2  So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

2:3  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

2:4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

2:5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

2:6  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

2:7  He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

2:8  He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

2:9  Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

2:10  When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

2:11  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

2:12  To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

2:13  Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

2:14  Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

2:15  Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

2:16  To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

2:17  Which forsaketh the guide 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 take they hold of 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 earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.