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My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you, |
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2
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if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding, |
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3
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if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, |
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4
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if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure, |
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5
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then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. |
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6
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For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
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7
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He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity, |
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8
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to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints. |
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9
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Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path. |
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10
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For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul. |
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11
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Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, |
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12
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to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity, |
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13
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from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness, |
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14
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from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil, |
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15
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whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious. |
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16
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It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words |
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who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. |
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18
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For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits. |
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19
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None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life. |
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20
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So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous. |
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21
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For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it; |
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22
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but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted. |
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