Proverbs 2

1 [My] son, if you will receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with you;

My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,

2 your ear shall listen to wisdom; you shall also apply your heart to understanding, and shall apply it to the instruction of your son.

so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;

3 For it you shall call to wisdom, and utter your voice for understanding;

yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;

4 and if you shall seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures:

5 then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

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

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

For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.

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

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

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

guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones.

9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgement; and shall direct all your course aright.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.

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

When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,

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

discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:

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

To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things;

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

[from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

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

who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;

15 whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:

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

To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;

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

who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God;

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

— for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead;

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.

none that go unto her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

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

— that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous.

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

For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it;

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

but the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.