Proverbs 2
Common English Bible
Benefits of wisdom
2 My son, accept my words
and store up my commands.
2 Turn your ear toward wisdom,
and stretch your mind toward understanding.
3 Call out for insight,
and cry aloud for understanding.
4 Seek it like silver;
search for it like hidden treasure.
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
and discover the knowledge of God.
6 The Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He reserves ability for those with integrity.
He is a shield for those who live a blameless life.
8 He protects the paths of justice
and guards the way of those who are loyal to him.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
as well as integrity, every good course.
10 Wisdom will enter your mind,
and knowledge will fill you with delight.
11 Discretion will guard you;
understanding will protect you.
12 Wisdom will rescue you from the evil path,
from people who twist their words.
13 They forsake the way of integrity
and go on obscure paths.
14 They enjoy doing evil,
rejoicing in their twisted evil.
15 Their paths are confused;
they get lost on their way.
16 Wisdom will rescue you from the mysterious woman,
from the foreign woman with her slick words.
17 She leaves behind the partner of her youth;
she even forgets her covenant with God.
18 Her house sinks down to death,
and her paths go down to the shadowy dead.
19 All those who go to her will never return;
they will never again reach the ways of the living.
20 So you should stay on the path of good people,
guarding the road of the righteous.
21 Those who have integrity will dwell in the land;
the innocent will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be ripped up.
Proverbs 2
The Message
Make Insight Your Priority
2 1-5 Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
6-8 And here’s why: God gives out Wisdom free,
is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.
He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well,
a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
He keeps his eye on all who live honestly,
and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
9-15 So now you can pick out what’s true and fair,
find all the good trails!
Lady Wisdom will be your close friend,
and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
Good Sense will scout ahead for danger,
Insight will keep an eye out for you.
They’ll keep you from making wrong turns,
or following the bad directions
Of those who are lost themselves
and can’t tell a trail from a tumbleweed,
These losers who make a game of evil
and throw parties to celebrate perversity,
Traveling paths that go nowhere,
wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
16-19 Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress—
that smooth-talking Seductress
Who’s faithless to the husband she married years ago,
never gave a second thought to her promises before God.
Her whole way of life is doomed;
every step she takes brings her closer to hell.
No one who joins her company ever comes back,
ever sets foot on the path to real living.
20-22 So—join the company of good men and women,
keep your feet on the tried-and-true paths.
It’s the men who walk straight who will settle this land,
the women with integrity who will last here.
The corrupt will lose their lives;
the dishonest will be gone for good.
Proverbs 2
Contemporary English Version
Wisdom and Bad Friends
2 My child, you must follow
and treasure my teachings
and my instructions.
2 Keep in tune with wisdom
and think what it means
to have common sense.
3 Beg as loud as you can
for good common sense.
4 Search for wisdom
as you would search for silver
or hidden treasure.
5 Then you will understand
what it means to respect
and to know the Lord God.
6 (A) All wisdom comes from the Lord,
and so do common sense
and understanding.
7 God gives helpful advice[a]
to everyone who obeys him
and protects those
who live as they should.
8 God sees that justice is done,
and he watches over everyone
who is faithful to him.
9 With wisdom you will learn
what is right
and honest and fair.
10 Wisdom will control your mind,
and you will be pleased
with knowledge.
11 Sound judgment and good sense
will watch over you.
12 Wisdom will protect you
from evil schemes
and from those liars
13 who turned from doing good
to live in the darkness.
14 Most of all they enjoy
being mean and deceitful.
15 They are dishonest themselves,
and so are all their deeds.
Wisdom and Sexual Purity
16 Wisdom will protect you
from the smooth talk
of a sinful woman,
17 who breaks her wedding vows
and leaves the man she married
when she was young.
18 The road to her house leads
down
to the dark world
of the dead.
19 Visit her, and you will never
find the road to life again.
20 Follow the example
of good people
and live an honest life.
21 If you are honest and innocent,
you will keep your land;
22 if you do wrong
and can never be trusted,
you will be rooted out.
Footnotes
- 2.7 helpful advice: Or “wisdom.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
