2
1 Beni (my son), if thou wilt receive my words,
and treasure my mitzvot with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto chochmah,
and apply thine lev to tevunah (understanding);
3 Yea, if thou criest out after binah,
and liftest up thy voice for tevunah (understanding),
4 If thou seekest her as kesef,
and searchest for her as for matmonim (hidden treasures);
5 Then shalt thou understand the Yirat Hashem,
and find the Da'as Elohim.
6 For Hashem giveth chochmah;
out of His Peh (mouth) cometh da'as (knowledge) and tevunah (understanding).
7 He layeth up tushiyyah (wise Torah counsel) for the yesharim (upright ones);
He is a mogen (shield) to them that walk in blamelessness.
8 He keepeth the orkhot mishpat,
and is shomer over the derech of His Chasidim.
9 Then shalt thou understand tzedek, and mishpat,
and mesharim (equity, fairness) — every ma'agal tov (good path).
10 When chochmah entereth into thine lev,
and da'as (knowledge) is pleasant unto thy nefesh;
11 Mezimah (discretion) shall be shomer over thee,
tevunah (understanding) shall safeguard thee;
12 To save thee from the derech rah,
from the ish medaber tahpukhot (man speaking perverse things);
13 Who leaving the orkhot yosher (paths of uprightness),
walk in the drakhei choshech (ways of darkness);
14 Who rejoice to do rah,
and delight in the tahpukhot (perverse things) of rah (evil);
15 Whose orkhot (paths) are crooked ones,
and they are devious in their ma'agalot (paths).
16 To save thee from the isha zarah (strange woman),
even from the nokhriyah (strange [immoral] woman) which useth smooth words;
17 Which forsaketh the alluf (companion, husband) of her youth,
and forgetteth the brit (covenant) of her G-d.
18 For her bais inclineth toward mavet,
and her ma'agalot (paths) to the refa'im (spirits of the dead).
19 None that go unto her return again,
neither attain they to the orkhot chayyim (paths of life).
20 That thou mayest walk in the derech tovim,
and be shomer over the orkhot tzaddikim (paths of the righteous).
21 For the yesharim (upright ones) shall dwell in the land,
and the tamimim (blameless, faultless ones) shall remain in it.
22 But the resha'im shall be cut off from ha'aretz,
and the bogedim (treacherous ones) shall be rooted out of it.