Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;
My son, if you accept what I say and value my instructions,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
if you pay attention to wisdom and really try to understand;
3 Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;
if you cry out for insight and call loudly for help in understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;
if you look for it as if it were silver and search for it as if it were hidden treasure;
5 Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
then you will understand how to relate to the Lord and discover the truth about God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
The Lord is the source of wisdom; what he says provides knowledge that makes sense.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
He gives good judgment to those who live right; he defends those who have good sense.
8 He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints.
He supports those who act fairly and protects those who trust in him.
9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yes, every good path.
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.
10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul;
For wisdom will fill your mind, and knowledge will make you happy.
11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:
Good decisions will keep you on track; thinking logically will keep you safe.
12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks fraudulent things;
Doing this will save you from the ways of evil, from men who tell twisted lies,
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
who turn away from following what is right to walk down paths of darkness.
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
They happily do wrong; they love how twisted evil is.
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they fraudulent in their paths:
They live crooked lives doing deceitful things.
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flatters with her words;
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.
17 Which forsakes the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.
Such a woman has left her husband she married when she was young, forgetting the promises she made before God.
18 For her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead.
What happens in her house leads to death; following her way leads to the grave.
19 None that go to her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
No one who goes to her comes back; they don't ever find the way back to life again.
20 That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
So you should follow the way of the good, and make sure you stay on the paths of those who do right.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
For only people who live right will live in the land; only honest people will remain there.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
But the wicked will be thrown out of the land; those who are untrustworthy will be pulled out by the roots.
