1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my
commandments with thee;
2. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply
thine heart to understanding;
3. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy
voice for understanding;
4. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as
for hid treasures;
5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the
knowledge of God.
6. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the
righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of
his saints.
9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and
equity; yea, every good path.
10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is
pleasant unto thy soul;
11. Discretion shall preserve
thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12. To deliver thee from the
way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways
of darkness;
14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of
the wicked;
15. Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16. To deliver thee from the
strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth
the covenant of her God.
18. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto
the dead.
19. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of
life.
20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep
the paths of the righteous.
21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the
perfect shall remain in it.
22. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall
be rooted out of it.
Excerpted from the Old Testament School of Discipleship by Robert P. Holland
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