Proverbs 2

1 My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;

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

2 So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

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

3 Yea, if you cry after knowledge, 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 hid treasures;

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

5 Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

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

6 For the LORD 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 righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

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

8 He keeps the paths of judgment, and perserves the way of his saints.

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

9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

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

10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;

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

11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:

Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,

12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks perverse things;

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

13 Who leave 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 the wicked;

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

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they perverse 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 stranger which flatters with her words;

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

17 Which forsakes the guide 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 inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

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

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

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

20 That you may 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 shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

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

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

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