Guard Your Heart

⁵ Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,^[a]
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
⁸ He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart
    and test the mind,^[b]
to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

²⁰ My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹ Let them not escape from your sight;
    keep them within your heart.
²² For they are life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their^[a] flesh.
²³ Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for from it flow the springs of life.
²⁴ Put away from you crooked speech,
    and put devious talk far from you.
²⁵ Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
²⁶ Ponder^[b] the path of your feet;
    then all your ways will be sure.
²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil.