English Standard Version ESV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
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My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
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making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
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if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;
4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures—
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
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then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
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For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
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he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.
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guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;
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Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
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for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,
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prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you.
12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,
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It will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
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who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,
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who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil;
15 men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.
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those whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.
16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,
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You will be saved from the loose woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;
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who forsakes the partner of her youth and forgets her sacred covenant;
18 for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;
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for her way leads down to death, and her paths to the shades;
19 none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.
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those who go to her never come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
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Therefore walk in the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the just.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it,
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For the upright will abide in the land, and the innocent will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
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but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.