The Rewards of Wisdom

1My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do. 2Listen to what is wise and try to understand it. 3Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight. 4Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure. 5If you do, you will know what it means to fear the Lord and you will succeed in learning about God. 6 It is the Lord who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding. 7He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest. 8He protects those who treat others fairly, and guards those who are devoted to him.

9If you listen to me, you will know what is right, just, and fair. You will know what you should do. 10You will become wise, and your knowledge will give you pleasure. 11Your insight and understanding will protect you 12and prevent you from doing the wrong thing. They will keep you away from people who stir up trouble by what they say— 13those who have abandoned a righteous life to live in the darkness of sin, 14those who find pleasure in doing wrong and who enjoy senseless evil, 15unreliable people who cannot be trusted.

16You will be able to resist any immoral woman who tries to seduce you with her smooth talk, 17who is faithless to her own husband and forgets her sacred vows. 18If you go to her house, you are traveling the road to death. To go there is to approach the world of the dead. 19No one who visits her ever comes back. He never returns to the road to life. 20So you must follow the example of good people and live a righteous life. 21Righteous people—people of integrity—will live in this land of ours. 22But God will snatch the wicked from the land and pull sinners out of it like plants from the ground.