| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; | 1My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, |
| 2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; | 2turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding-- |
| 3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; | 3indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, |
| 4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; | 4and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, |
| 5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. | 5then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. |
| 6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. | 6For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
| 7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. | 7He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, |
| 8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. | 8for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. |
| 9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. | 9Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--every good path. |
| 10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; | 10For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. |
| 11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: | 11Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. |
| 12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; | 12Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, |
| 13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; | 13who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, |
| 14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; | 14who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, |
| 15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: | 15whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. |
| 16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; | 16Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, |
| 17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. | 17who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. |
| 18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. | 18Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. |
| 19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. | 19None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. |
| 20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. | 20Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. |
| 21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. | 21For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; |
| 22But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. | 22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it. |
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