New Century Version NCV
New International Version NIV
1 My child, listen to what I say and remember what I command you.
1
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2 Listen carefully to wisdom; set your mind on understanding.
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turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
3 Cry out for wisdom, and beg for understanding.
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indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 Search for it like silver, and hunt for it like hidden treasure.
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and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 Then you will understand respect for the Lord, and you will find that you know God.
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then you will understand the fear of the LORDand find the knowledge of God.
6 Only the Lord gives wisdom; he gives knowledge and understanding.
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For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up wisdom for those who are honest. Like a shield he protects the innocent.
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He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 He makes sure that justice is done, and he protects those who are loyal to him.
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for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is honest and fair and what is the good and right thing to do.
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Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
10 Wisdom will come into your mind, and knowledge will be pleasing to you.
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For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Good sense will protect you; understanding will guard you.
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Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
12 It will keep you from the wicked, from those whose words are bad,
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Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
13 who don't do what is right but what is evil.
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who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
14 They enjoy doing wrong and are happy to do what is crooked and evil.
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who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 What they do is wrong, and their ways are dishonest.
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whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
16 It will save you from the unfaithful wife who tries to lead you into adultery with pleasing words.
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Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 She leaves the husband she married when she was young. She ignores the promise she made before God.
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who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 Her house is on the way to death; those who took that path are now all dead.
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Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 No one who goes to her comes back or walks the path of life again.
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None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
20 But wisdom will help you be good and do what is right.
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Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 Those who are honest will live in the land, and those who are innocent will remain 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 will be removed from the land, and the unfaithful will be thrown out of it.
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but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.