Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New International Version NIV
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,
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My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2 That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: incline thy heart to know prudence.
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turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
3 For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:
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indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:
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and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God:
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then you will understand the fear of the LORDand find the knowledge of God.
6 Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.
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For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He wilt keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity,
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He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.
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for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.
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Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
10 If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:
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For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,
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Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
12 That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:
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Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
13 Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:
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who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
14 Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in the most wicked things:
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who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.
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whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
16 That thou mayst be delivered from the strange woman, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words;
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Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 And forsaketh the guide of her youth,
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who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.
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Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None that go in unto her, shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life.
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None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
20 That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.
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Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For they that are upright, shall dwell in the earth; and the simple shall continue in it.
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For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
22 But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly, shall be taken away from it.
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but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
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Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.