Chapter 2

1 My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

2 making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

3 yes, if you cry out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

4 if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures;

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 guarding the paths of justice

and preserving the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice

and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

11 discretion will watch over you;

understanding will guard you;

12 delivering you from the way of evil,

from men of perverted speech,

13 who forsake the paths of uprightness

to walk in the ways of darkness,

14 who rejoice in doing evil

and delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 men whose paths are crooked,

and who are devious in their ways.

16 You will be saved from the loose woman,

from the adventuress with her smooth words,

17 who forsakes the companion of her youth

and forgets the covenant of her God;

18 for her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the shades;

19 none who go to her come back

nor do they regain the paths of life.

20 So you will walk in the way of good men

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will inhabit the land,

and men of integrity will remain in it;

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Chapter 3

1 My son, do not forget my teaching,

but let your heart keep my commandments;

2 for length of days and years of life

and abundant welfare will they give you.

3 Let not loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;

bind them about your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 So you will find favor and good repute

in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not rely on your own insight.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your flesh

and refreshment to your bones.

9 Honor the Lord with your substance

and with the first fruits of all your produce;

10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will be bursting with wine.

11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,

as a father the son in whom he delights.

13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,

and the man who gets understanding,

14 for the gain from it is better than gain from silver

and its profit better than gold.

15 She is more precious than jewels,

and nothing you desire can compare with her.

16 Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

and all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;

those who hold her fast are called happy.

19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;

by understanding he established the heavens;

20 by his knowledge the deeps broke forth,

and the clouds drop down the dew.

21 My son, keep sound wisdom and discretion;

let them not escape from your sight,

22 and they will be life for your soul

and adornment for your neck.

23 Then you will walk on your way securely

and your foot will not stumble.

24 If you sit down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

25 Do not be afraid of sudden panic,

or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes;

26 for the Lord will be your confidence

and will keep your foot from being caught.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,

when it is in your power to do it.

28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,

tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

29 Do not plan evil against your neighbor

who dwells trustingly beside you.

30 Do not contend with a man for no reason,

when he has done you no harm.

31 Do not envy a man of violence

and do not choose any of his ways;

32 for the perverse man is an abomination to the Lord,

but the upright are in his confidence.

33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,

but he blesses the abode of the righteous.

34 Toward the scorners he is scornful,

but to the humble he shows favor.

35 The wise will inherit honor,

but fools get disgrace.

Chapter 4

1 Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,

and be attentive, that you may gain insight;

2 for I give you good precepts:

do not forsake my teaching.

3 When I was a son with my father,

tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

4 he taught me, and said to me,

“Let your heart hold fast my words;

keep my commandments, and live;

5 do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

Get wisdom; get insight.

6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

love her, and she will guard you.

7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

and whatever you get, get insight.

8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;

she will honor you if you embrace her.

9 She will place on your head a fair garland;

she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

10 Hear, my son, and accept my words,

that the years of your life may be many.

11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;

I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered;

and if you run, you will not stumble.

13 Keep hold of instruction, do not let go;

guard her, for she is your life.

14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,

and do not walk in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it; do not go on it;

turn away from it and pass on.

16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;

they are robbed of sleep unless they have made some one stumble.

17 For they eat the bread of wickedness

and drink the wine of violence.

18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know over what they stumble.

20 My son, be attentive to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Let them not escape from your sight;

keep them within your heart.

22 For they are life to him who finds them,

and healing to all his flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance;

for from it flow the springs of life.

24 Put away from you crooked speech,

and put devious talk far from you.

25 Let your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

26 Take heed to the path of your feet,

then all your ways will be sure.

27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your foot away from evil.