Proverbs 2
1 Mi sone, if thou resseyuest my wordis, `and hidist myn heestis anentis thee;
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;
2 that thin eere here wisdom, bowe thin herte to knowe prudence.
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;
3 For if thou inwardli clepist wisdom, and bowist thin herte to prudence;
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;
4 if thou sekist it as money, and diggist it out as tresours;
If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:
5 thanne thou schalt vndirstonde the drede of the Lord, and schalt fynde the kunnyng of God.
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord yyueth wisdom; and prudence and kunnyng is of his mouth.
For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding:
7 He schal kepe the heelthe of riytful men, and he schal defende hem that goen sympli.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [He is] a shield to them that walk in integrity;
8 And he schal kepe the pathis of riytfulnesse, and he schal kepe the weies of hooli men.
That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.
9 Thanne thou schalt vndirstonde riytfulnesse, and dom, and equytee, and ech good path.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, [yea], every good path.
10 If wysdom entrith in to thin herte, and kunnyng plesith thi soule,
For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
11 good councel schal kepe thee, and prudence schal kepe thee; that thou be delyuered fro an yuel weie,
Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:
12 and fro a man that spekith weiward thingis.
To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;
13 Whiche forsaken a riytful weie, and goen bi derk weies;
Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 whiche ben glad, whanne thei han do yuel, and maken ful out ioye in worste thingis;
Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;
15 whose weies ben weywerd, and her goyingis ben of yuel fame.
Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:
16 That thou be delyuered fro an alien womman, and fro a straunge womman, that makith soft hir wordis;
To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;
17 and forsakith the duyk of hir tyme of mariage,
That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
18 and hath foryete the couenaunt of hir God. For the hous of hir is bowid to deeth, and hir pathis to helle.
For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;
19 Alle that entren to hir, schulen not turne ayen, nether schulen catche the pathis of lijf.
None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
20 That thou go in a good weie, and kepe the pathis of iust men.
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
21 Forsothe thei that ben riytful, schulen dwelle in the lond; and symple men schulen perfitli dwelle ther ynne.
For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But vnfeithful men schulen be lost fro the loond; and thei that doen wickidli, schulen be takun awey fro it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
