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The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

¹ My son, if you will ^(C1)receive my words
And ^(C2)treasure my commandments within you,

^2 (C1)Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;

³ For if you cry for discernment,
^(F1)Lift your voice for understanding;

⁴ If you seek her as ^(C1)silver
And search for her as for ^(C2)hidden treasures;

⁵ Then you will discern the ^(C1)fear of the LORD
And discover the knowledge of God.

⁶ For ^(C1)the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a ^(C1)shield to those who walk in integrity,

⁸ Guarding the paths of justice,
And He ^(C1)preserves the way of His godly ones.

⁹ Then you will discern ^(C1)righteousness and justice
And equity and every ^(C2)good course.

¹⁰ For ^(C1)wisdom will enter your heart
And ^(C2)knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

¹¹ Discretion will ^(C1)guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,

¹² To ^(C1)deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks ^(C2)perverse things;

¹³ From those who ^(C1)leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ^(C2)ways of darkness;

¹⁴ Who ^(C1)delight in doing evil
And rejoice in the perversity of evil;

¹⁵ Whose paths are ^(C1)crooked,
And who are devious in their ways;

¹⁶ To ^(C1)deliver you from the strange woman,
From the ^(F1)(C2)adulteress who flatters with her words;

¹⁷ That leaves the ^(C1)companion of her youth
And forgets the ^(C2)covenant of her God;

¹⁸ For ^(C1)her house ^(F1)sinks down to death
And her tracks lead to the ^(F2)dead;

¹⁹ None ^(C1)who go to her return again,
Nor do they reach the ^(C2)paths of life.

²⁰ So you will ^(C1)walk in the way of good men
And keep to the ^(C2)paths of the righteous.

²¹ For ^(C1)the upright will ^(F1)live in the land
And ^(C2)the blameless will remain in it;

²² But ^(C1)the wicked will be cut off from the land
And ^(C2)the treacherous will be ^(C3)uprooted from it.