Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
Oh, my son, that thou wouldst receive my words, And treasure up my precepts within thee;
2 if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,
That thou wouldst apply thine ear to wisdom, And incline thy heart to understanding!
3 if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
For if thou wilt call aloud to knowledge, And lift up thy voice to understanding, —
4 if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,
If thou wilt seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden 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 giveth wisdom; From his mouth proceed knowledge and understanding:
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,
He layeth up safety for the righteous; He is a shield to them that walk uprightly:
8 to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.
He guardeth the paths of equity, And defendeth the way of his servants.
9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and equity And uprightness, yea, every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.
When wisdom entereth into thy heart, And knowledge is pleasant to thy soul,
11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,
Discretion will guard thee, Understanding will preserve thee.
12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,
It will deliver thee from the way of the wicked, From the men who speak perverse things;
13 from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,
Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,
Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perverseness of the wicked;
15 whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
Whose paths are crooked, And who are froward in their ways.
16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
It will deliver thee from the wife of another, From the stranger, who useth smooth words;
17 who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
Who forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
For her house sinketh down to Death, And her paths to the shades of the dead:
19 None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.
None that go to her return again; They will not attain the paths of life.
20 So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.
Therefore walk thou in the way of good men, 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 shall dwell in the land, And the righteous shall remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
