Proverbs - Chapter 2

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

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

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

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

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

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

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

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

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

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

6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

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

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

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

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

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

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

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

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

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

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

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

12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

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

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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