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The Benefits of Wisdom

My child, if you will receive[a] my sayings,
    and hide my commands with you,
in order to incline your ear toward wisdom,
    then you shall apply your heart to understanding.
For if you cry out for understanding,[b]
    if you lift[c] your voice for insight,
if you seek her like silver
    and search her out like treasure,[d]
then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,
    and the knowledge of God you will find.
For Yahweh will give wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
For the upright, he stores[e] sound judgment, a shield for those who walk uprightly,
in order to guard paths of justice
    and keep[f] the way of his faithful ones.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and uprightness—every good course—
10 for wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul.[g]
11 Discretion will watch over you;
    understanding will protect you,
12 in order to deliver you from the way of evil,[h]
    from a man who speaks devious things—
13 those who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to walk in ways of darkness,
14 those who are happy to do evil,
    for they delight in the deviousness of evil,
15 who are crooked in their ways,[i]
    and devious in their paths;
16 in order to deliver you from a strange woman,
    from a foreign woman who flatters[j] with her sayings,
17 she who forsakes the partner of her youth
    and has forgotten the covenant of her God,
18 for her house sinks to death,
    and to the dead[k] are her paths.
19 Of all who go to her, none shall return,
    nor do they reach paths of life.
20 So that you will walk on the road of those who are good,
    and the paths of those who are righteous you shall keep.
21 For those who are upright will dwell in the land,[l]
    and those who are blameless[m] will remain in it.
22 And those who are wicked will be cut off from the land,
    and those who are treacherous will be uprooted from it.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:1 Or “take, seize”
  2. Proverbs 2:3 Or “call to understanding”
  3. Proverbs 2:3 Or “carry, give”
  4. Proverbs 2:4 Literally “like the treasures”
  5. Proverbs 2:7 Or “hides, keeps”
  6. Proverbs 2:8 Or “preserve, guard, watch”
  7. Proverbs 2:10 Or “inner self”
  8. Proverbs 2:12 Or “evildoer”
  9. Proverbs 2:15 Literally “that in their ways are crooked”
  10. Proverbs 2:16 Or “makes smooth”
  11. Proverbs 2:18 Or “Rephaim”
  12. Proverbs 2:21 Or “earth”
  13. Proverbs 2:21 Or “innocent”

The Benefits of Wisdom

My child,[a] listen to what I say,
    and treasure my commands.
Tune your ears to wisdom,
    and concentrate on understanding.
Cry out for insight,
    and ask for understanding.
Search for them as you would for silver;
    seek them like hidden treasures.
Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
    and you will gain knowledge of God.
For the Lord grants wisdom!
    From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.
    He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
He guards the paths of the just
    and protects those who are faithful to him.

Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair,
    and you will find the right way to go.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will fill you with joy.
11 Wise choices will watch over you.
    Understanding will keep you safe.

12 Wisdom will save you from evil people,
    from those whose words are twisted.
13 These men turn from the right way
    to walk down dark paths.
14 They take pleasure in doing wrong,
    and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.
15 Their actions are crooked,
    and their ways are wrong.

16 Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman,
    from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.
17 She has abandoned her husband
    and ignores the covenant she made before God.
18 Entering her house leads to death;
    it is the road to the grave.[b]
19 The man who visits her is doomed.
    He will never reach the paths of life.

20 So follow the steps of the good,
    and stay on the paths of the righteous.
21 For only the godly will live in the land,
    and those with integrity will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be removed from the land,
    and the treacherous will be uprooted.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:1 Hebrew My son.
  2. 2:18 Hebrew to the spirits of the dead.