Proverbs 2

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

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

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

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

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

For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,

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

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

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

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

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

For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,

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

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

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

Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

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

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

15 Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.

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

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

17 And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten the covenant of her God.

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

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

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

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

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

That you go in the way of the good, And keep the paths of the righteous.

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

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

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

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