So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it,
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens;
by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.
Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.
The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.
Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.
When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.
I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.
For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,
lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”
Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,
then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.
Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.