Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,

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

2 make your ears pay attention to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding.

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

3 If you cry out for understanding and raise your voice for it,

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

4 if you seek it like you would seek silver and search for understanding as you would seek hidden treasures,

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

5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh and you will find the knowledge of God.

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

6 For Yahweh gives wisdom, from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

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

7 He stores up sound wisdom for those who please him, he is a shield for those who walk in integrity,

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

8 he guards the paths of justice and he will preserve the way of those who are faithful to him.

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

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

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

10 For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

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

11 Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you.

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

12 They will rescue you from the way of evil, from those who speak perverse things,

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

13 who abandon the right paths and walk in the ways of darkness.

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

14 They rejoice when they do evil and delight in the perversities of evil.

who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15 They follow crooked paths, and using deception they hide their tracks.

whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16 Wisdom and discretion will save you from an adulterous woman, from an immoral woman and her flattering words.

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

17 She forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.

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

18 For her house leads down to death and her tracks will lead you to those in the grave.

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

19 All who go in to her will not return again and they will not find the paths of life.

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.

20 So you will walk in the way of good people and follow the paths of righteous people.

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

21 For those doing right will make a home in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it.

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

22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the faithless will be cut off from it.

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