New International Version | 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. |
2turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding-- | 2Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. |
3indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, | 3Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. |
4and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for 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 find 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 holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, | 7He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. |
8for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. | 8He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. |
9Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--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 heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. | 10For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. |
11Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. | 11Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe. |
12Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, | 12Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted. |
13who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, | 13These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths. |
14who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, | 14They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil. |
15whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. | 15Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong. |
16Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, | 16Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman. |
17who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. | 17She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God. |
18Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. | 18Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave. |
19None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. | 19The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life. |
20Thus you will walk in the ways of the good 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 live in the land, and the blameless 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 unfaithful will be torn from it. | 22But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted. |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | 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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