Revised Standard Version RSV
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
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My son, if you take my words [to heart] and treasure my commands within you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
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if you pay close attention to wisdom, and let your mind reach for understanding,
3 yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
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if indeed you call out for insight, if you ask aloud for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures;
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if you search for wisdom as if it were money and hunt for it as if it were hidden treasure,
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 you will find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
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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 has reserved priceless wisdom for decent people. He is a shield for those who walk in integrity
8 guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his saints.
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in order to guard those on paths of justice and to watch over the way of his godly ones.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;
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Then you will understand what is right and just and fair-- every good course [in life].
10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
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Wisdom will come into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 discretion will watch over you; understanding will guard you;
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Foresight will protect you. Understanding will guard you.
12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,
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[Wisdom will] save you from the way of evil, from the person who speaks devious things,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
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from those who abandon the paths of righteousness to walk the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil;
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from those who enjoy doing evil, from those who find joy in the deviousness of evil.
15 men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.
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Their paths are crooked. Their ways are devious.
16 You will be saved from the loose woman, from the adventuress with her smooth words,
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[Wisdom will] also save you from an adulterous woman, from a loose woman with her smooth talk,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;
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who leaves [her husband,] the closest friend of her youth, and forgets her marriage vows to her God.
18 for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the shades;
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Her house sinks down to death. Her ways lead to the souls of the dead.
19 none who go to her come back nor do they regain the paths of life.
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None who have sex with her come back. Nor do they ever reach the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.
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So walk in the way of good people and stay on the paths of righteous people.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and men of integrity will remain in it;
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Decent people will live in the land. People of integrity 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 wicked people will be cut off from the land and treacherous people will be torn from it.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.