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 store up my commandments within you;

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

So as to turn 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 call out for discernment, 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 hidden treasures:

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

then you will 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 upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

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

that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his faithful ones.

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

Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

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

For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11 Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,

Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

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

to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

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

who forsake 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 perverseness of evil;

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

who are crooked in their ways, and wayward 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 foreigner who flatters with her words;

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

who forsakes the friend 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 leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

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

None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to 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 will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in 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 land. The treacherous will be uprooted out of it.