Proverbs 2

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

⁵then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

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

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

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

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

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

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