Proverbs 2

1 [My] son, if you will receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with you;

Mi sone, if thou resseyuest my wordis, `and hidist myn heestis anentis thee;

2 your ear shall listen to wisdom; you shall also apply your heart to understanding, and shall apply it to the instruction of your son.

that thin eere here wisdom, bowe thin herte to knowe prudence.

3 For it you shall call to wisdom, and utter your voice for understanding;

For if thou inwardli clepist wisdom, and bowist thin herte to prudence;

4 and if you shall seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

if thou sekist it as money, and diggist it out as tresours;

5 then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

thanne thou schalt vndirstonde the drede of the Lord, and schalt fynde the kunnyng of God.

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

For the Lord yyueth wisdom; and prudence and kunnyng is of his mouth.

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

He schal kepe the heelthe of riytful men, and he schal defende hem that goen sympli.

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

And he schal kepe the pathis of riytfulnesse, and he schal kepe the weies of hooli men.

9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment; and shall direct all your course aright.

Thanne thou schalt vndirstonde riytfulnesse, and dom, and equytee, and ech good path.

10 For if wisdom shall come into your understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to your soul,

If wysdom entrith in to thin herte, and kunnyng plesith thi soule,

11 good counsel shall guard you, and holy understanding shall keep you;

good councel schal kepe thee, and prudence schal kepe thee; that thou be delyuered fro an yuel weie,

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

and fro a man that spekith weiward thingis.

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

Whiche forsaken a riytful weie, and goen bi derk weies;

14 who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

whiche ben glad, whanne thei han do yuel, and maken ful out ioye in worste thingis;

15 whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

whose weies ben weywerd, and her goyingis ben of yuel fame.

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

That thou be delyuered fro an alien womman, and fro a straunge womman, that makith soft hir wordis;

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

and forsakith the duyk of hir tyme of mariage,

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

and hath foryete the couenaunt of hir God. For the hous of hir is bowid to deeth, and hir pathis to helle.

19 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.

Alle that entren to hir, schulen not turne ayen, nether schulen catche the pathis of lijf.

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

That thou go in a good weie, and kepe the pathis of iust men.

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

Forsothe thei that ben riytful, schulen dwelle in the lond; and symple men schulen perfitli dwelle ther ynne.

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

But vnfeithful men schulen be lost fro the loond; and thei that doen wickidli, schulen be takun awey fro it.