Proverbs 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
Second Address to a Son: Wisdom Provides Protection
2 My son, if you accept my words,
if you store up my commands within you,
2 by paying attention[a] to wisdom with your ear,
by reaching out for understanding with your heart,
3 if indeed you call out for intelligence,
if you raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you search for it like silver,
if you hunt for it like hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
then you will find the knowledge of God,
6 because the Lord gives wisdom.
Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth.
7 He stores up sound judgment for upright people.
He is a shield for those who walk in integrity.
8 He protects those who walk on paths of justice.
He guards the way of his favored ones.[b]
9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and fairness—every good path,
10 because wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant for your soul.
11 Foresight will stand guard over you.
Understanding will protect you.
12 It will save you from the evil way,
from the man who speaks perverse things,
13 from those who abandon upright paths
in order to walk in the ways of darkness.
14 It will save you from those who enjoy doing evil,
from those who celebrate the twisted ways of evil,
15 from those whose paths are crooked,
and from those whose ways are devious.
Wisdom Protects You From the Adulterous Woman
16 Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman,[c]
from the unfaithful woman[d] with her seductive words,
17 who abandons the husband of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 So she sinks down to death, which becomes her house.[e]
Her way of life leads down to the spirits of the dead.
19 All who enter her house never return.
They never reach the paths of life.
Admonition to Live Righteously
20 This is how to walk in the way of good people,
how to stay on the paths of the righteous.
21 Yes, the upright will live in the land,
and people with integrity will remain in it,
22 but wicked people will be cut off from the land,
and treacherous people will be torn out of it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:2 Or so you can pay attention
- Proverbs 2:8 Or those who are merciful or those who have received his mercy
- Proverbs 2:16 Literally from the strange woman, that is, one who is married to another man
- Proverbs 2:16 Literally from the foreign woman, that is, one who is married to another man
- Proverbs 2:18 The line is difficult and the translation is uncertain.
Mishle 2
Orthodox Jewish Bible
2 Beni (my son), if thou wilt receive my words, and treasure my mitzvot with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto chochmah, and apply thine lev to tevunah (understanding);
3 Yea, if thou criest out after binah, and liftest up thy voice for tevunah (understanding)
4 If thou seekest her as kesef, and searchest for her as for matmonim (hidden treasures);
5 Then shalt thou understand the Yirat Hashem, and find the Da’as Elohim.
6 For Hashem giveth chochmah; out of His Peh (mouth) cometh da’as (knowledge) and tevunah (understanding).
7 He layeth up tushiyyah (wise Torah counsel) for the yesharim (upright ones); He is a mogen (shield) to them that walk in blamelessness.
8 He keepeth the orkhot mishpat, and is shomer over the derech of His Chasidim.
9 Then shalt thou understand tzedek, and mishpat, and mesharim (equity, fairness)‖every ma’agal tov (good path).
10 When chochmah entereth into thine lev, and da’as (knowledge) is pleasant unto thy nefesh;
11 Mezimah (discretion) shall be shomer over thee, tevunah (understanding) shall safeguard thee;
12 To save thee from the derech rah, from the ish medaber tahpukhot (man speaking perverse things);
13 Who leaving the orkhot yosher (paths of uprightness), walk in the drakhei choshech (ways of darkness);
14 Who rejoice to do rah, and delight in the tahpukhot (perverse things) of rah (evil);
15 Whose orkhot (paths) are crooked ones, and they are devious in their ma’agalot (paths);
16 To save thee from the isha zarah (strange woman), even from the nokhriyah (strange [immoral] woman) which useth smooth words;
17 Which forsaketh the alluf (companion, husband) of her youth, and forgetteth the brit (covenant) of her G-d.
18 For her bais inclineth toward mavet, and her ma’agalot (paths) to the refa’im (spirits of the dead).
19 None that go unto her return again, neither attain they to the orkhot chayyim (paths of life).
20 That thou mayest walk in the derech tovim, and be shomer over the orkhot tzaddikim (paths of the righteous).
21 For the yesharim (upright ones) shall dwell in the land, and the tamimim (blameless, faultless ones) shall remain in it.
22 But the resha’im shall be cut off from ha’aretz, and the bogedim (treacherous ones) shall be rooted out of it.
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