Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,
My son, if you accept what I say and value my instructions,
2 To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, You incline your heart to understanding,
if you pay attention to wisdom and really try to understand;
3 For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,
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 hid treasures,
if you look for it as if it were silver and search for it as if it were hidden treasure;
5 Then you understand the fear of YHWH, And you find the knowledge of God.
then you will understand how to relate to the Lord and discover the truth about God.
6 For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.
The Lord is the source of wisdom; what he says provides knowledge that makes sense.
7 Even to lay up substance for the upright, A shield for those walking uprightly.
He gives good judgment to those who live right; he defends those who have good sense.
8 To keep the paths of judgment, And He preserves the way of His saints.
He supports those who act fairly and protects those who trust in him.
9 Then you understand righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—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 For wisdom comes into your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
For wisdom will fill your mind, and knowledge will make you happy.
11 Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,
Good decisions will keep you on track; thinking logically will keep you safe.
12 To deliver you from an evil way, From any speaking contrary things,
Doing this will save you from the ways of evil, from men who tell twisted lies,
13 Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,
who turn away from following what is right to walk down paths of darkness.
14 Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,
They happily do wrong; they love how twisted evil is.
15 Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.
They live crooked lives doing deceitful things.
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,
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 Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten 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 has inclined to death, And her paths to Rephaim.
What happens in her house leads to death; following her way leads to the grave.
19 None going in to her return, Nor do they reach 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 go in the way of the good, 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 inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,
For only people who live right will live in the land; only honest people will remain there.
22 And the wicked are cut off from the earth, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!
But the wicked will be thrown out of the land; those who are untrustworthy will be pulled out by the roots.
