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