Proverbs 2

1 [My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee;

My son, if you would accept my words, and conceal my commandments within you,

2 thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son.

so that your ears may listen to wisdom, then bend your heart in order to know prudence.

3 For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding;

For if you would call upon wisdom and bend your heart to prudence,

4 and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

if you will seek her like money, and dig for her as if for treasure,

5 then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will discover the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding,

For the Lord bestows wisdom, and out of his mouth, prudence and knowledge.

7 and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;

He will preserve the salvation of the righteous, and he will protect those who walk in simplicity:

8 that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.

serving the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of sanctity.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright.

Then you shall understand justice and judgment, and equity, and every good path.

10 For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul,

If wisdom is to enter into your heart, and if knowledge is to become pleasing to your soul,

11 good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee;

then counsel must guard you, and prudence must serve you,

12 to deliver thee from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.

so that you may be rescued from the evil way, and from the man who speaks perversities,

13 Alas [for those] who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness;

from those who leave the straight path to walk in dark ways,

14 who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

who rejoice when they have done evil, and who exult in the most wicked things.

15 whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

Their ways are perverse, and their steps are infamous.

16 to remove thee far from the straight way, and to estrange thee from a righteous purpose. [My] son, let not evil counsel overtake thee,

So may you be rescued from the foreign woman, and from the outsider, who softens her speech,

17 [of her] who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God.

and who leaves behind the Guide of her youth,

18 For she has fixed her house near death, and [guided] her wheels near Hades with the giants.

and who has forgotten the covenant of her God. For her household inclines toward death, and her paths toward Hell. (questioned)

19 None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life.

All those who enter to her will not return again, nor will they take hold of the paths of life.

20 For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy.

So may you walk in the good way, and keep to the difficult paths of the just.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it.

For those who are upright shall live upon the earth, and the simple shall continue upon it.

22 The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.

Yet truly, the impious shall perish from the earth, and those who act unjustly shall be taken away from it.