Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you will take my words to your heart, storing up my laws in your mind;

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;

2 So that your ear gives attention to wisdom, and your heart is turned to knowledge;

So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

3 Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge;

Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

4 If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth;

If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

5 Then the fear of the Lord will be clear to you, and knowledge of God will be yours.

Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason:

For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding:

7 He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil;

He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [He is] a shield to them that walk in integrity;

8 He keeps watch on the ways which are right, and takes care of those who have the fear of him.

That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

9 Then you will have knowledge of righteousness and right acting, and upright behaviour, even of every good way.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, [yea], every good path.

10 For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul;

For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Wise purposes will be watching over you, and knowledge will keep you;

Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

12 Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false;

To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

13 Who give up the way of righteousness, to go by dark roads;

Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner;

Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 Whose ways are not straight, and whose footsteps are turned to evil:

Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

16 To take you out of the power of the strange woman, who says smooth words with her tongue;

To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

17 Who is false to the husband of her early years, and does not keep the agreement of her God in mind:

That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:

18 For her house is on the way down to death; her footsteps go down to the shades:

For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;

19 Those who go to her do not come back again; their feet do not keep in the ways of life:

None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

20 So that you may go in the way of good men, and keep in the footsteps of the upright.

That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will be living in the land, and the good will have it for their heritage.

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

22 But sinners will be cut off from the land, and those whose acts are false will be uprooted.

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