Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
1My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, | 1My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. |
2listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; | 2Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. |
3furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, | 3Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. |
4if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, | 4Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. |
5then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. | 5Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God. |
6For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. | 6For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
7He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity | 7He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. |
8so that He may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His loyal followers. | 8He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. |
9Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity--every good path. | 9Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. |
10For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart. | 10For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. |
11Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, | 11Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe. |
12rescuing you from the way of evil-- from the one who says perverse things, | 12Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted. |
13from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, | 13These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths. |
14from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, | 14They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil. |
15whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious. | 15Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong. |
16It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a stranger with her flattering talk, | 16Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman. |
17who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; | 17She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God. |
18for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. | 18Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave. |
19None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life. | 19The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life. |
20So follow the way of good people, and keep to the paths of the righteous. | 20So follow the steps of the good, and stay on the paths of the righteous. |
21For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it; | 21For only the godly will live in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it. |
22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous uprooted from it. | 22But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted. |
Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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