Chapter 2

  My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,  

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  so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;  

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  yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;  

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  if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures:  

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  then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God.  

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  For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.  

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  He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;  

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  guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones.  

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  Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.  

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  When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,  

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  discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:  

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  To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things;  

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  [from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;  

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  who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;  

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  whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:  

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  To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;  

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  who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God;  

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  -- for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead;  

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  none that go unto her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:  

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  -- that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous.  

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  For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it;  

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  but the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.  

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