Proverbs 4:2-22

²For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not my teaching.

³For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother.

⁴And he taught me, and said unto me: 'Let thy heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments, and live;

⁵Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;

⁶Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; love her, and she will keep thee.

⁷The beginning of wisdom is: Get wisdom; yea, with all thy getting get understanding.

⁸Extol her, and she will exalt thee; she will bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

⁹She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; a crown of glory will she bestow on thee.'

¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

¹¹I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in paths of uprightness.

¹²When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

¹³Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.

¹⁴Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men.

¹⁵Avoid it, pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.

¹⁶For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.

²⁰My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

²¹Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.

²²For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.