Proverbs 2:10-20
English Standard Version
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 (A)discretion will (B)watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to (C)walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who (D)rejoice in doing evil
and (E)delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose (F)paths are crooked,
(G)and who are (H)devious in their ways.
16 So (I)you will be delivered from the forbidden[a] woman,
from (J)the adulteress[b] with (K)her smooth words,
17 who forsakes (L)the companion of her youth
and forgets (M)the covenant of her God;
18 (N)for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;[c]
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:16 Hebrew strange
- Proverbs 2:16 Hebrew foreign woman
- Proverbs 2:18 Hebrew to the Rephaim
Proverbs 2:10-20
International Standard Version
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion[a] will protect you;
understanding will watch over you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men who speak perverse things,
13 and from those who abandon the right[b] path
to travel along the ways of darkness;
14 who delight in doing evil,
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil;
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways,
16 delivering you from the adulteress,
from the immoral[c] woman with her seductive words,
17 someone who abandoned the companion of her youth
and forgot the covenant of her God.
18 For her house leads down to death,
and her paths down to the realm of the dead.
19 None who go to her return,
nor do they reach the paths of life.
20 This is how you will walk in the way of good men
and will keep to the paths of the righteous.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:11 Or Wise planning
- Proverbs 2:13 Lit. straight or upright
- Proverbs 2:16 Lit. foreign; i.e. one whose values are foreign to God’s Law
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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