Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,
2 if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,
To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, You incline your heart to understanding,
3 if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,
4 if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,
If you seek her as silver, And search for her as hid treasures,
5 then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.
Then you understand the fear of YHWH, And you find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,
Even to lay up substance for the upright, A shield for those walking uprightly.
8 to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.
To keep the paths of judgment, And He preserves the way of His saints.
9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path.
Then you understand righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.
For wisdom comes into your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,
Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,
12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,
To deliver you from an evil way, From any speaking contrary things,
13 from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,
Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,
14 from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,
Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,
15 whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.
16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,
17 who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten the covenant of her God.
18 For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
For her house has inclined to death, And her paths to Rephaim.
19 None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.
None going in to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
20 So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.
That you go in the way of the good, And keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
For the upright inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
And the wicked are cut off from the earth, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!
