Proverbs 2

1 [My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee;

My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

2 thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son.

To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

3 For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding;

For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

4 and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

5 then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding,

For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

7 and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;

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

8 that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.

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

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright.

Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness — every good path.

10 For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul,

For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

11 good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee;

Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

12 to deliver thee from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.

To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

13 Alas [for those] who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness;

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

14 who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

15 whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

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

16 to remove thee far from the straight way, and to estrange thee from a righteous purpose. [My] son, let not evil counsel overtake thee,

To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

17 [of her] who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God.

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

18 For she has fixed her house near death, and [guided] her wheels near Hades with the giants.

For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

19 None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life.

None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20 For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy.

That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it.

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

22 The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.

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