Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept what I say and value my instructions,
My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
2 if you pay attention to wisdom and really try to understand;
if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,
3 if you cry out for insight and call loudly for help in understanding;
if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
4 if you look for it as if it were silver and search for it as if it were hidden treasure;
if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand how to relate to the Lord and discover the truth about God.
then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.
6 The Lord is the source of wisdom; what he says provides knowledge that makes sense.
For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He gives good judgment to those who live right; he defends those who have good sense.
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,
8 He supports those who act fairly and protects those who trust in him.
to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.
9 Then you will be able to recognize what is right and just and fair, in fact all that is good in the way you should live.
Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path.
10 For wisdom will fill your mind, and knowledge will make you happy.
For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.
11 Good decisions will keep you on track; thinking logically will keep you safe.
Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,
12 Doing this will save you from the ways of evil, from men who tell twisted lies,
to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,
13 who turn away from following what is right to walk down paths of darkness.
from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 They happily do wrong; they love how twisted evil is.
from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,
15 They live crooked lives doing deceitful things.
whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
16 Doing this will also save you from a woman who acts immorally, from a woman who like a prostitute tries to seduce you with flattering words.
It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
17 Such a woman has left her husband she married when she was young, forgetting the promises she made before God.
who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 What happens in her house leads to death; following her way leads to the grave.
For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
19 No one who goes to her comes back; they don't ever find the way back to life again.
None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.
20 So you should follow the way of the good, and make sure you stay on the paths of those who do right.
So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For only people who live right will live in the land; only honest people will remain there.
For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
22 But the wicked will be thrown out of the land; those who are untrustworthy will be pulled out by the roots.
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
