Proverbs 2

1My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,

1My son, if you will take my words to your heart, storing up my laws in your mind;

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

2To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,

2So that your ear gives attention to wisdom, and your heart is turned to knowledge;

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

3For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,

3Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge;

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

4If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,

4If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth;

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

5Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.

5Then the fear of the Lord will be clear to you, and knowledge of God will be yours.

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

6For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

6For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason:

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

7Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.

7He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil;

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

8To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.

8He keeps watch on the ways which are right, and takes care of those who have the fear of him.

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

9Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness--every good path.

9Then you will have knowledge of righteousness and right acting, and upright behaviour, even of every good way.

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

10For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,

10For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul;

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

11Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,

11Wise purposes will be watching over you, and knowledge will keep you;

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

12To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,

12Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false;

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

13Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,

13Who give up the way of righteousness, to go by dark roads;

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

14Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,

14Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner;

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

15Whose paths <FI>are<Fi> crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.

15Whose ways are not straight, and whose footsteps are turned to evil:

15Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.

16To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,

16To take you out of the power of the strange woman, who says smooth words with her tongue;

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

17Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

17Who is false to the husband of her early years, and does not keep the agreement of her God in mind:

17And forsaketh the guide of her youth,

18For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.

18For her house is on the way down to death; her footsteps go down to the shades:

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

19None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

19Those who go to her do not come back again; their feet do not keep in the ways of life:

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

20That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.

20So that you may go in the way of good men, and keep in the footsteps of the upright.

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

21For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,

21For the upright will be living in the land, and the good will have it for their heritage.

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

22And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!

22But sinners will be cut off from the land, and those whose acts are false will be uprooted.

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