| 1 ¶ My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
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| 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
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| 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest1 up thy voice for understanding;
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| 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
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| 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
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| 6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
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| 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
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| 8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
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| 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
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| 10 ¶ When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
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| 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
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| 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
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| 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
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| 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
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| 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
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| 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
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| 17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
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| 18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
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| 19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
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| 20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
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| 21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
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| 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted2 out of it.
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