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My son, if you receive my words,
And a treasure my commands within you,
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So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
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Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
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b If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
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c Then you will understand the fear of the LORD,
And find the knowledge of God.
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d For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
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He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
e He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
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He guards the paths of justice,
And f preserves the way of His saints.
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Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.
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When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
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Discretion will preserve you;
g Understanding will keep you,
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To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things,
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From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To h walk in the ways of darkness;
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i Who rejoice in doing evil,
And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
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j Whose ways are crooked,
And who are devious in their paths;
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To deliver you from k the immoral woman,
l From the seductress who flatters with her words,
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Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
And forgets the covenant of her God.
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For m her house 1 leads down to death,
And her paths to the dead;
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None who go to her return,
Nor do they 2 regain the paths of life -
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So you may walk in the way of goodness,
And keep to the paths of righteousness.
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For the upright will dwell in the n land,
And the blameless will remain in it;
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But the wicked will be 3 cut off from the 4 earth,
And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.