Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you,

My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,

2 so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

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

3 yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,

4 if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;

If you seek her as silver, And search for her as hid treasures,

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

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

6 For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.

7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

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

8 that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.

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

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

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

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

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

11 Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,

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

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

13 who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,

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

14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil,

Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,

15 who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,

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

16 to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,

17 who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;

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

18 for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.

For her house has inclined to death, And her paths to Rephaim.

19 None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.

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

20 Therefore walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

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

21 For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

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

22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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