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