Young's Literal Translation YLT
New International Version NIV
1 My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,
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My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2 To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,
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turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
3 For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,
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indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,
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and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.
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then you will understand the fear of the LORDand find the knowledge of God.
6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.
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For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.
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He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.
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for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.
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Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,
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For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,
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Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
12 To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,
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Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
13 Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,
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who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
14 Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,
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who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 Whose paths [are] crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.
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whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,
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Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.
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who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.
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Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
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None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
20 That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.
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Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,
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For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
22 And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked 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.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.
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.