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 sayings, and, my commandments, wilt treasure up by thee;

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

So that thou direct, unto wisdom, thine ear, bend thy heart, unto understanding;

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

Yea if, for understanding, thou cry aloud, for knowledge, utter thy voice;

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, like hid treasure, thou search for her,

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

Then, shalt thou understand the reverence of Yahweh, and, the knowledge of God, shalt thou find.

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

For, Yahweh, giveth wisdom, out of his mouth, knowledge and understanding;

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

Yea he treasureth, for the upright, safety, A shield [is he] to them who walk in integrity,

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

To him that observeth the paths of justice, yea, the way of his men of lovingkindness, he doth guard.

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—every noble course.

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

When wisdom entereth thy heart, and, knowledge, to thy soul, is sweet,

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

Discretion, shall watch over thee, understanding, shall preserve thee: —

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

To rescue thee from the way of the wrongful, from the man that speaketh perverse things;

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

From them who forsake the paths of rectitude, 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 wrong, exult in the perversities of the wrongful;

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

Whose paths, are twisted, and they are tortuous in their tracks:

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

To rescue thee, from the woman that is a stranger, from the female unknown, who with her speeches seduceth;

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

Who forsaketh the friend of her youth, and, the covenant of her God, hath forgotten;

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

For she hath appointed, unto death, her house, and unto the shades, her courses;

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

None who go in unto her, come back, neither attain they 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.

To the end that thou walk in the way of good men, and, the paths of the righteous, that thou observe.

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

For, the upright, shall abide on the earth, —and, the men of integrity, shall remain therein;

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

But, the lawless, out of the earth, shall be cut off, and, traitors, shall they tear away therefrom.