Reward for the seeker of wisdom
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My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
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if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,
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if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
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if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,
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then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.
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For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
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He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,
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to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.
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Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path.
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For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.
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Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,
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to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,
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from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,
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from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,
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whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
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It will rescue you from the forbidden woman,(a) from the stranger (b) with seductive words
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who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
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For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.(c)
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None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.
Walking in the way of wisdom
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So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.
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For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
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but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
Footnotes