1 My sonne, if thou wilt receiue my words, and hide my commaundements with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine eare vnto wisedome, and apply thine heart to vnderstanding:
3 Yea if thou cryest after knowledge, and liftest vp thy voyce for vnderstanding:
4 If thou seekest her as siluer, and searchest for her, as for hid treasures:
5 Then shalt thou vnderstand the feare of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord giueth wisedome: out of his mouth commeth knowledge, and vnderstanding.
7 He layeth vp sound wisedome for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walke vprightly.
8 He keepeth the pathes of iudgement, and preserueth the way of his Saints.
9 Then shalt thou vnderstand righteousnesse, and iudgement, and equity; yea euery good path.
10 ¶ When wisedome entreth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant vnto thy soule;
11 Discretion shall preserue thee, vnderstanding shall keepe thee:
12 To deliuer thee from the way of the euill man, from the man that speaketh froward things.
13 Who leaue the pathes of vprightnesse, to walke in the wayes of darkenesse:
14 Who reioyce to doe euill, and delight in the frowardnesse of the wicked.
15 Whose wayes are crooked, and they froward in their pathes.
16 To deliuer thee from the strange woman, euen from the stranger, which flattereth with her words:
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the couenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth vnto death, and her pathes vnto the dead:
19 None that goe vnto her, returne againe, neither take they hold of the pathes of life.
20 That thou mayest walke in the way of good men, and keepe the pathes of the righteous.
21 For the vpright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remaine in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressours shalbe rooted out of it.
Promises to those who seek wisdom. (1-9) The advantages of wisdom. (10-22)1-9 Those who earnestly seek heavenly wisdom, will never complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of the gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, #Joh 6:27|. Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and it shall be given them. Observe who are thus favoured. They are the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which consists in righteousness. If we depend upon God, and seek to him for wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of judgment.
10-22 If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin. Many think that this caution, besides the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.