Proverbs 2

1 My son, if thou will receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee,

[My] son, if you will receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with you;

2 so as to incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding,

your ear shall listen to wisdom; you shall also apply your heart to understanding, and shall apply it to the instruction of your son.

3 yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding,

For it you shall call to wisdom, and utter your voice for understanding;

4 if thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures,

and if you shall seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

5 then thou shall understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God.

then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For Jehovah gives wisdom. Out of his mouth is knowledge and understanding.

For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding,

7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright, a shield to those who walk in integrity,

and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;

8 that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his sanctified.

that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.

9 Then thou shall understand righteousness and justice and equity, yea, every good path.

Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgement; and shall direct all your course aright.

10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul,

For if wisdom shall come into your understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to your soul,

11 discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee,

good counsel shall guard you, and holy understanding shall keep you;

12 to deliver thee from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things,

to deliver you from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.

13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

Alas [for those] who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness;

14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil,

who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15 who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,

whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16 to deliver thee from the interloping woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words,

to remove you far from the straight way, and to estrange you from a righteous purpose. [My] son, let not evil counsel overtake you,

17 who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God

[of her] who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God.

18 (for her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead;

For she has fixed her house near death, and [guided] her wheels near Hades with the giants.

19 none who go to her return again, nor do they attain to the paths of life),

None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life.

20 that thou may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.