| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, | 1My child, if you receive my words, and store up my commands within you, |
| 2listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; | 2by making your ear attentive to wisdom, and by turning your heart to understanding, |
| 3furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, | 3indeed, if you call out for discernment--raise your voice for understanding-- |
| 4if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, | 4if you seek it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure, |
| 5then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. | 5then you will understand how to fear the LORD, and you will discover knowledge about God. |
| 6For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. | 6For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. |
| 7He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity | 7He stores up effective counsel for the upright, and is like a shield for those who live with integrity, |
| 8so that He may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His loyal followers. | 8to guard the paths of the righteous and to protect the way of his pious ones. |
| 9Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity--every good path. | 9Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity--every good way. |
| 10For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart. | 10For wisdom will enter your heart, and moral knowledge will be attractive to you. |
| 11Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, | 11Discretion will protect you, understanding will guard you, |
| 12rescuing you from the way of evil-- from the one who says perverse things, | 12to deliver you from the way of the wicked, from those speaking perversity, |
| 13from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, | 13who leave the upright paths to walk on the dark ways, |
| 14from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, | 14who delight in doing evil, they rejoice in perverse evil; |
| 15whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious. | 15whose paths are morally crooked, and who are devious in their ways; |
| 16It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a stranger with her flattering talk, | 16to deliver you from the adulteress, from the sexually loose woman who speaks flattering words; |
| 17who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; | 17who leaves the husband from her younger days, and forgets her marriage covenant made before God. |
| 18for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. | 18For her house sinks down to death, and her paths lead to the place of the departed spirits. |
| 19None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life. | 19None who go in to her will return, nor will they reach the paths of life. |
| 20So follow the way of good people, and keep to the paths of the righteous. | 20So you will walk in the way of good people, and will keep on the paths of the righteous. |
| 21For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it; | 21For the upright will reside 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 torn away from it. |
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