1My son, if you accept what I say and value my instructions,
2if you pay attention to wisdom and really try to understand;
3if you cry out for insight and call loudly for help in understanding;
4if you look for it as if it were silver and search for it as if it were hidden treasure;
5then you will understand how to relate to the Lord and discover the truth about God.
6The Lord is the source of wisdom; what he says provides knowledge that makes sense.
7He gives good judgment to those who live right; he defends those who have good sense.
8He supports those who act fairly and protects those who trust in him.
9Then you will be able to recognize what is right and just and fair, in fact all that is good in the way you should live.
10For wisdom will fill your mind, and knowledge will make you happy.
11Good decisions will keep you on track; thinking logically will keep you safe.
12Doing this will save you from the ways of evil, from men who tell twisted lies,
13who turn away from following what is right to walk down paths of darkness.
14They happily do wrong; they love how twisted evil is.
15They live crooked lives doing deceitful things.
16Doing this will also save you from a woman who acts immorally, from a woman who like a prostitute tries to seduce you with flattering words.
17Such a woman has left her husband she married when she was young, forgetting the promises she made before God.
18What happens in her house leads to death; following her way leads to the grave.
19No one who goes to her comes back; they don't ever find the way back to life again.
20So you should follow the way of the good, and make sure you stay on the paths of those who do right.
21For only people who live right will live in the land; only honest people will remain there.
22But the wicked will be thrown out of the land; those who are untrustworthy will be pulled out by the roots.