Proverbs 2
1 My son, if thou wouldst but accept my words, and treasure up my commandments with thee;
My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,
2 To let thy ear listen unto wisdom: [if] thou wouldst incline thy heart to understanding.
To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, You incline your heart to understanding,
3 For if thou wilt call after intelligence; if after understanding thou wilt lift up thy voice;
For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,
4 If thou wilt seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:
If you seek her as silver, And search for her as hid treasures,
5 Then wilt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and the knowledge of God wilt thou find.
Then you understand the fear of YHWH, And you find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.
For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.
7 He treasureth up sound wisdom for the righteous, as a shield to those that walk in integrity:
Even to lay up substance for the upright, A shield for those walking uprightly.
8 That men may keep the paths of justice; and the way of his pious servants doth he guard.
To keep the paths of judgment, And He preserves the way of His saints.
9 Then wilt thou understand righteousness, and justice, and equity: yea, every track of goodness.
Then you understand righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter thy heart, and knowledge will be pleasant unto thy soul;
For wisdom comes into your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11 Discretion will watch over thee, understanding will keep thee;
Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,
12 To deliver thee from the way of the bad, from the man that speaketh perverse things;
To deliver you from an evil way, From any speaking contrary things,
13 [From those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,
14 Who rejoice to do evil, who are delighted in the perverseness of the bad;
Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,
15 Who as regardeth their paths are crooked, and froward in their tracks.
Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.
16 To deliver thee from the adulteress, from the alien woman that useth flattering speeches;
To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,
17 That forsaketh the friend of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten the covenant of her God.
18 For she sinketh unto death—her house, and unto the departed [lead] her tracks.
For her house has inclined to death, And her paths to Rephaim.
19 All that come unto her return not again, and they will not reach the paths of life.
None going in to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
20 In order that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and observe the paths of the righteous.
That you go in the way of the good, And keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will dwell on the earth, and the perfect will be left remaining on it.
For the upright inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous shall be plucked up therefrom.
And the wicked are cut off from the earth, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!
