Proverbs 2

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my sayings, and, my commandments, wilt treasure up by thee;

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

2 So that thou direct, unto wisdom, thine ear, bend thy heart, unto understanding;

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

3 Yea if, for understanding, thou cry aloud, for knowledge, utter thy voice;

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

4 If thou seek her as silver, and, like hid treasure, thou search for her,

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

5 Then, shalt thou understand the reverence of Yahweh, and, the knowledge of God, shalt thou find.

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

6 For, Yahweh, giveth wisdom, out of his mouth, knowledge and understanding;

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

7 Yea he treasureth, for the upright, safety, A shield [is he] to them who walk in integrity,

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

8 To him that observeth the paths of justice, yea, the way of his men of lovingkindness, he doth guard.

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

9 Then, shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, and equity—every noble course.

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

10 When wisdom entereth thy heart, and, knowledge, to thy soul, is sweet,

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

11 Discretion, shall watch over thee, understanding, shall preserve thee: —

Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,

12 To rescue thee from the way of the wrongful, from the man that speaketh perverse things;

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

13 From them who forsake the paths of rectitude, to walk in the ways of darkness;

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

14 Who rejoice to do wrong, exult in the perversities of the wrongful;

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

15 Whose paths, are twisted, and they are tortuous in their tracks:

Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

16 To rescue thee, from the woman that is a stranger, from the female unknown, who with her speeches seduceth;

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

17 Who forsaketh the friend of her youth, and, the covenant of her God, hath forgotten;

And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

18 For she hath appointed, unto death, her house, and unto the shades, her courses;

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

19 None who go in unto her, come back, neither attain they unto the paths of life:

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

20 To the end that thou walk in the way of good men, and, the paths of the righteous, that thou observe.

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

21 For, the upright, shall abide on the earth, —and, the men of integrity, shall remain therein;

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

22 But, the lawless, out of the earth, shall be cut off, and, traitors, shall they tear away therefrom.

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