Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you would accept my words, and conceal my commandments within you,
My son, if thou wilt receive my sayings, and, my commandments, wilt treasure up by thee;
2 so that your ears may listen to wisdom, then bend your heart in order to know prudence.
So that thou direct, unto wisdom, thine ear, bend thy heart, unto understanding;
3 For if you would call upon wisdom and bend your heart to prudence,
Yea if, for understanding, thou cry aloud, for knowledge, utter thy voice;
4 if you will seek her like money, and dig for her as if for treasure,
If thou seek her as silver, and, like hid treasure, thou search for her,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will discover the knowledge of God.
Then, shalt thou understand the reverence of Yahweh, and, the knowledge of God, shalt thou find.
6 For the Lord bestows wisdom, and out of his mouth, prudence and knowledge.
For, Yahweh, giveth wisdom, out of his mouth, knowledge and understanding;
7 He will preserve the salvation of the righteous, and he will protect those who walk in simplicity:
Yea he treasureth, for the upright, safety, A shield [is he] to them who walk in integrity,
8 serving the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of sanctity.
To him that observeth the paths of justice, yea, the way of his men of lovingkindness, he doth guard.
9 Then you shall understand justice and judgment, and equity, and every good path.
Then, shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, and equity—every noble course.
10 If wisdom is to enter into your heart, and if knowledge is to become pleasing to your soul,
When wisdom entereth thy heart, and, knowledge, to thy soul, is sweet,
11 then counsel must guard you, and prudence must serve you,
Discretion, shall watch over thee, understanding, shall preserve thee: —
12 so that you may be rescued from the evil way, and from the man who speaks perversities,
To rescue thee from the way of the wrongful, from the man that speaketh perverse things;
13 from those who leave the straight path to walk in dark ways,
From them who forsake the paths of rectitude, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 who rejoice when they have done evil, and who exult in the most wicked things.
Who rejoice to do wrong, exult in the perversities of the wrongful;
15 Their ways are perverse, and their steps are infamous.
Whose paths, are twisted, and they are tortuous in their tracks:
16 So may you be rescued from the foreign woman, and from the outsider, who softens her speech,
To rescue thee, from the woman that is a stranger, from the female unknown, who with her speeches seduceth;
17 and who leaves behind the Guide of her youth,
Who forsaketh the friend of her youth, and, the covenant of her God, hath forgotten;
18 and who has forgotten the covenant of her God. For her household inclines toward death, and her paths toward Hell. (questioned)
For she hath appointed, unto death, her house, and unto the shades, her courses;
19 All those who enter to her will not return again, nor will they take hold of the paths of life.
None who go in unto her, come back, neither attain they unto the paths of life:
20 So may you walk in the good way, and keep to the difficult paths of the just.
To the end that thou walk in the way of good men, and, the paths of the righteous, that thou observe.
21 For those who are upright shall live upon the earth, and the simple shall continue upon it.
For, the upright, shall abide on the earth, —and, the men of integrity, shall remain therein;
22 Yet truly, the impious shall perish from the earth, and those who act unjustly shall be taken away from it.
But, the lawless, out of the earth, shall be cut off, and, traitors, shall they tear away therefrom.
