Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,
Oh, my son, that thou wouldst receive my words, And treasure up my precepts within thee;
2 To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, You incline your heart to understanding,
That thou wouldst apply thine ear to wisdom, And incline thy heart to understanding!
3 For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,
For if thou wilt call aloud to knowledge, And lift up thy voice to understanding, —
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 shalt thou 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 giveth wisdom; From his mouth proceed knowledge and understanding:
7 Even to lay up substance for the upright, A shield for those walking uprightly.
He layeth up safety for the righteous; He is a shield to them that walk uprightly:
8 To keep the paths of judgment, And He preserves the way of His saints.
He guardeth the paths of equity, And defendeth the way of his servants.
9 Then you understand righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and equity And uprightness, yea, every good path.
10 For wisdom comes into your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
When wisdom entereth into thy heart, And knowledge is pleasant to thy soul,
11 Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,
Discretion will guard thee, Understanding will preserve thee.
12 To deliver you from an evil way, From any speaking contrary things,
It will deliver thee from the way of the wicked, 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 in doing evil, And delight in the perverseness of the wicked;
15 Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.
Whose paths are crooked, And who are froward in their ways.
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,
It will deliver thee from the wife of another, From the stranger, who useth smooth words;
17 Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten the covenant of her God.
Who 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 her house sinketh down to Death, And her paths to the shades of the dead:
19 None going in to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
None that go to her return again; They will not attain the paths of life.
20 That you go in the way of the good, And keep the paths of the righteous.
Therefore walk thou 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 righteous 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 land, And transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
