Proverbs 2

1 My sonne, if thou wilt receiue my wordes, and hide my commandements within thee,

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

2 And cause thine eares to hearken vnto wisdome, and encline thine heart to vnderstanding,

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

3 (For if thou callest after knowledge, and cryest for vnderstanding:

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

4 If thou seekest her as siluer, and searchest for her as for treasures,

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

5 Then shalt thou vnderstand the feare of the Lord, and finde the knowledge of God.

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

6 For the Lord giueth wisdome, out of his mouth commeth knowledge and vnderstanding.

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

7 He preserueth the state of the righteous: he is a shielde to them that walke vprightly,

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

8 That they may keepe the wayes of iudgement: and he preserueth the way of his Saintes)

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

9 Then shalt thou vnderstand righteousnes, and iudgement, and equitie, and euery good path.

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

10 When wisdome entreth into thine heart, and knowledge deliteth thy soule,

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

11 Then shall counsell preserue thee, and vnderstanding shall keepe thee,

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

12 And deliuer thee from the euill way, and from the man that speaketh froward things,

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

13 And from them that leaue the wayes of righteousnes to walke in the wayes of darkenes:

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

14 Which reioyce in doing euill, and delite in the frowardnesse of the wicked,

who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15 Whose wayes are crooked and they are lewde in their paths.

whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16 And it shall deliuer thee from the strange woman, euen from the stranger, which flattereth with her wordes.

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

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the couenant of her God.

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

18 Surely her house tendeth to death, and her paths vnto the dead.

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

19 All they that goe vnto her, returne not againe, neither take they holde of the wayes of life.

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.

20 Therefore walke thou in the way of good men, and keepe the wayes of the righteous.

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

21 For the iust shall dwell in the land, and the vpright men shall remaine in it.

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

22 But the wicked shalbe cut off from ye earth, and the transgressours shalbe rooted out of it.

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