Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,

My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;

2 To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, You incline your heart to understanding,

So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

3 For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,

Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;

4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as hid treasures,

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

5 Then you understand the fear of YHWH, And you find the knowledge of God.

Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.

For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

7 Even to lay up substance for the upright, A shield for those walking uprightly.

He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8 To keep the paths of judgment, And He preserves the way of His saints.

He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints.

9 Then you understand righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.

Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yes, every good path.

10 For wisdom comes into your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,

When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul;

11 Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,

Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:

12 To deliver you from an evil way, From any speaking contrary things,

To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks fraudulent things;

13 Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

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

14 Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,

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

15 Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.

Whose ways are crooked, and they fraudulent in their paths:

16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,

To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flatters with her words;

17 Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten the covenant of her God.

Which forsakes the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.

18 For her house has inclined to death, And her paths to Rephaim.

For her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead.

19 None going in to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

None that go to her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20 That you go in the way of the good, And keep the paths of the righteous.

That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 And the wicked are cut off from the earth, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.