Proverbs 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11 Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,

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

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

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

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

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

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

who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;

15 Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;

16 That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her 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 And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

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

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

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

19 None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of 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 That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.

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

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

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

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

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