Proverbs 2

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee;

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

2 So that thou make thine ear attend unto wisdom, and thy heart incline to discernment;

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 Yea, if thou call for understanding, and lift up thy voice for discernment;

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

4 If thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;

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

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

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

6 For the LORD giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and discernment;

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

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright, He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

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

8 That He may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of His godly ones.

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

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, and equity, yea, every good path.

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

10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

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

11 Discretion shall watch over thee, discernment shall guard thee;

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

12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the men that speak froward things;

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

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

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

14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil;

who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15 Who are crooked in their ways, and perverse in their paths;

whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the alien woman that maketh smooth her words;

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 That forsaketh the lord of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

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

18 For her house sinketh down unto death, and her paths unto the shades;

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

19 None that go unto her return, neither do they attain unto the paths 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 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

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

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the whole-hearted shall remain in it.

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

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the faithless shall be plucked up out of it.

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