Proverbs 2

English Standard Version

The Value of Wisdom

2 ^(A)My son, ^(B)if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
²making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
³yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice ^(C)for understanding,
⁴if you seek it like ^(D)silver
    and search for it as for ^(E)hidden treasures,
⁵then ^(F)you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
⁶For ^(G)the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
    he is ^(H)a shield to those who ^(I)walk in integrity,
⁸guarding the paths of justice
    and ^(J)watching over the way of his ^(K)saints.
⁹^(L)Then you will understand ^(M)righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;
¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
¹¹^(N)discretion will ^(O)watch over you,
    understanding will guard you,
¹²delivering you from the way of evil,
    from men of perverted speech,
¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to ^(P)walk in the ways of darkness,
¹⁴who ^(Q)rejoice in doing evil
    and ^(R)delight in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵men whose ^(S)paths are crooked,
    ^(T)and who are ^(U)devious in their ways.

¹⁶So ^(V)you will be delivered from the forbidden^[a] woman,
    from ^(W)the adulteress^[b] with ^(X)her smooth words,
¹⁷who forsakes ^(Y)the companion of her youth
    and forgets ^(Z)the covenant of her God;
¹⁸^(AA)for her house sinks down to death,
    and her paths to the departed;^[c]
¹⁹none who go to her come back,
    nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰So you will walk in the way of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹For the upright ^(AB)will inhabit the land,
    and those with integrity will remain in it,
²²but the wicked will be ^(AC)cut off from the land,
    and the treacherous will be ^(AD)rooted out of it.