Proverbs 2

1 My sonne, if thou wilt receiue my wordes, and hide my commandements within thee,

My son, if you will take my words to your heart, storing up my laws in your mind;

2 And cause thine eares to hearken vnto wisdome, and encline thine heart to vnderstanding,

So that your ear gives attention to wisdom, and your heart is turned to knowledge;

3 (For if thou callest after knowledge, and cryest for vnderstanding:

Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge;

4 If thou seekest her as siluer, and searchest for her as for treasures,

If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth;

5 Then shalt thou vnderstand the feare of the Lord, and finde the knowledge of God.

Then the fear of the Lord will be clear to you, and knowledge of God will be yours.

6 For the Lord giueth wisdome, out of his mouth commeth knowledge and vnderstanding.

For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason:

7 He preserueth the state of the righteous: he is a shielde to them that walke vprightly,

He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil;

8 That they may keepe the wayes of iudgement: and he preserueth the way of his Saintes)

He keeps watch on the ways which are right, and takes care of those who have the fear of him.

9 Then shalt thou vnderstand righteousnes, and iudgement, and equitie, and euery good path.

Then you will have knowledge of righteousness and right acting, and upright behaviour, even of every good way.

10 When wisdome entreth into thine heart, and knowledge deliteth thy soule,

For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul;

11 Then shall counsell preserue thee, and vnderstanding shall keepe thee,

Wise purposes will be watching over you, and knowledge will keep you;

12 And deliuer thee from the euill way, and from the man that speaketh froward things,

Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false;

13 And from them that leaue the wayes of righteousnes to walke in the wayes of darkenes:

Who give up the way of righteousness, to go by dark roads;

14 Which reioyce in doing euill, and delite in the frowardnesse of the wicked,

Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner;

15 Whose wayes are crooked and they are lewde in their paths.

Whose ways are not straight, and whose footsteps are turned to evil:

16 And it shall deliuer thee from the strange woman, euen from the stranger, which flattereth with her wordes.

To take you out of the power of the strange woman, who says smooth words with her tongue;

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the couenant of her God.

Who is false to the husband of her early years, and does not keep the agreement of her God in mind:

18 Surely her house tendeth to death, and her paths vnto the dead.

For her house is on the way down to death; her footsteps go down to the shades:

19 All they that goe vnto her, returne not againe, neither take they holde of the wayes of life.

Those who go to her do not come back again; their feet do not keep in the ways of life:

20 Therefore walke thou in the way of good men, and keepe the wayes of the righteous.

So that you may go in the way of good men, and keep in the footsteps of the upright.

21 For the iust shall dwell in the land, and the vpright men shall remaine in it.

For the upright will be living in the land, and the good will have it for their heritage.

22 But the wicked shalbe cut off from ye earth, and the transgressours shalbe rooted out of it.

But sinners will be cut off from the land, and those whose acts are false will be uprooted.