Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,

[My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee;

2 if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,

thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son.

3 if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding;

4 if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,

and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

5 then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.

then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

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

7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,

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

8 to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.

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

9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.

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

11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,

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

12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,

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

13 from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,

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

14 from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,

who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15 whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.

whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words

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

17 who abandons the partner 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 sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.

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

19 None who go to her return or negotiate 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 So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to 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 will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;

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

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.

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