To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;

That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck.

If they say, Come with us, Let us lay wait for blood; Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;

We shall find all precious substance; We shall fill our houses with spoil;

My son, walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:

For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

She crieth in the chief place of concourse; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words:

Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you; I will make known my words unto you.

But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:

When your fear cometh as a storm, And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish come upon you.

For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil.

So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding:

That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;