New International Version NIV
New King James Version NKJV
1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
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My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
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So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
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Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
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If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORDand 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 holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
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He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
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He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
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Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
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When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
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Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
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To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,
13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
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From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
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Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
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Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths;
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
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To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
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Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.
18 Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
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For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead;
19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
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None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life--
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
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So you may walk in the way of goodness, And keep to the paths of righteousness.
21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
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For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
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But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.