Proverbs 2

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

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,

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

That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence:

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

For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:

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

If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:

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

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

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

Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.

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

He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity.

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

Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.

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

Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.

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

If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:

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

Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,

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

That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:

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

Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:

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

Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things:

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

Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

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

That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words:

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

And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

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

And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell. (questioned)

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

None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life,

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

That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.

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

For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it.

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

But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.