New International Version NIV
New Living Translation NLT
1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
1
My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.
2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
2
Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.
3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
3
Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
4
Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORDand find the knowledge of God.
5
Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
6
For the LORD grants 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,
7
He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
8
He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
9
Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
10
For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.
11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
11
Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
12
Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.
13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
13
These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths.
14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
14
They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.
15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
15
Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
16
Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.
17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
17
She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God.
18 Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
18
Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave.
19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
19
The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life.
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
20
Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
21
For only the godly will live in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it.
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
22
But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted.
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.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.