1 My son, if you will receive my sayings,
And hide my commandments with you; (More than listening = hide as in a treasury. Illustrations: Deut. 6:6. Ps. 119:9,11. Matt. 13:44. Luke 2:19,51; 19:44.)
2 So that you hearken (Heb. prick up or point your ear) to wisdom,
[Then] you shall incline your heart to understanding; (This is the 1st step, as v.5 is the result.)
3 For if you go further and cry after knowledge,
And lift up your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver (or money. Probably the reference is to Job 28),
And search for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shall you understand the reverence of the LORD (that is only "the beginning of wisdom", not the end. See 1:7),
And find (what He has hidden [v.7]) the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom (the cry of v.3 implies a Giver. Illustrations: Joseph [Gen. 41:38,39]; Moses [Ex. 4:12]; Solomon [1 Kings 3:12; 4:29]; Daniel [1:17; 2:23]; Stephen [Acts 6:5,10]; Lydia [Acts 16:14]; Paul's prayer [Eph. 1:17. Col. 1:9]; John [1 John 5:20]):
Out of His mouth He gives knowledge and understanding.
7 He lays up something stable for the righteous (the wicked cannot find. The righteous must dig. It is in safety from the enemy):
He is a buckler to them that walk (journey) blamelessly. (He will shield you.)
8 He keeps (= for preserving. See 4:23) righteous paths,
And preserves the way of His favored ones. (Illustrations: David [1 Sam. 25:32-24; 27:1. Cp. 2 Sam. 22:1]; Paul [2 Cor. 12:7-9])
9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment,
And equity; yes, every good path. (Track, grooved.)
10 When wisdom enters into your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to you; (Commencing the particular instructions as to the practical power of wisdom, to keep from evil men [[vv.10-15] and the foreign women [vv.16-19]; and in the way of good men [vv.20-22].)
11 Discretion (common sense) shall preserve you,
Understanding shall keep you:
12 To pluck (or rescue) you from the way of the evil man,
From the man that speaks perverse things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness,
To walk in the ways of darkness (put for the evil which leads there. Satan will get you if you get off the right track. Cp. Rom. 13:12. Eph. 5:11);
14 Who rejoice to do evil,
And delight in the boldness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways (journey) are crooked,
And they perverse in their paths:
16 To deliver you from the strange woman (= an apostate to a false religion, of which prostitution formed part. Mystery Babylon),
Even from the foreigner (not of Abraham's seed [Gen. 17:12]: ever a snare to Israel) which flatters with her words; (Satan's main M.O. [method of operation].)
17 Which forsakes the guide of her youth,
And forgets the covenant of her God.
18 For her house (put for household) inclines to death,
And her paths to the dead. (Heb. Rephaim, who have no resurrection. Cp. Isa. 26:14, 19. It's one slipper slope to hell.)
19 None that go to her return again,
Neither do they attain to the paths of life. (They do not partake in the Eternal journey.)
20 That you may walk (journey) in the way of good men,
And keep the paths (journey) of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land,
And the perfect (or blameless. In Him, we are) shall remain in it.
22 But the lawless shall be cut off from the earth,
And the traitors (treacherous, or faithless ones) shall be rooted out of it. (After the Millennium, the lake of fire. Which means they will be consumed and wont exist anymore. It will be as if they never existed.)