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 wouldst but accept my words, and treasure up my commandments with thee;

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

To let thy ear listen unto wisdom: [if] thou wouldst incline thy heart to understanding.

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

For if thou wilt call after intelligence; if after understanding thou wilt lift up thy voice;

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

If thou wilt seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

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

Then wilt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and the knowledge of God wilt thou find.

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

For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [come] 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 treasureth up sound wisdom for the righteous, as a shield to those 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 men may keep the paths of justice; and the way of his pious servants doth he guard.

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

Then wilt thou understand righteousness, and justice, and equity: yea, every track of goodness.

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

For wisdom will enter thy heart, and knowledge will be pleasant unto thy soul;

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

Discretion will watch over thee, understanding will keep thee;

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

To deliver thee from the way of the bad, from the man that speaketh perverse things;

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

[From those] who leave 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, who are delighted in the perverseness of the bad;

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

Who as regardeth their paths are crooked, and froward in their tracks.

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

To deliver thee from the adulteress, from the alien woman that useth flattering speeches;

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 she sinketh unto death—her house, and unto the departed [lead] her tracks.

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

All that come unto her return not again, and they will not reach the paths of life.

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

In order that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and observe 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 will dwell on the earth, and the perfect will be left remaining on it.

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

But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous shall be plucked up therefrom.