Proverbs 2:1-19 ▼

1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

2 To make your ear pay attention to wisdom, Incline your heart to discernment;

3 For if you call out for understanding, Give your voice for discernment;

4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures;

5 Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh And find the knowledge of God.

6 For Yahweh gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and discernment.

7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright, A shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 To guard the paths of justice, And He keeps the way of His holy ones.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice And equity—every good track.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

11 Discretion will keep you, Discernment will guard you,

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

13 From those who forsake the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who are glad to do evil And they rejoice in the perversity of evil;

15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their tracks;

16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the foreign woman who flatters with her words;

17 Who forsakes the close companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks descend to the dead;

19 All who go to her will not return, And they will not reach the paths of life.