Proverbs 2
Lexham English Bible
The Benefits of Wisdom
2 My child, if you will receive[a] my sayings,
and hide my commands with you,
2 in order to incline your ear toward wisdom,
then you shall apply your heart to understanding.
3 For if you cry out for understanding,[b]
if you lift[c] your voice for insight,
4 if you seek her like silver
and search her out like treasure,[d]
5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,
and the knowledge of God you will find.
6 For Yahweh will give wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 For the upright, he stores[e] sound judgment, a shield for those who walk uprightly,
8 in order to guard paths of justice
and keep[f] the way of his faithful ones.
9 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.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:1 Or “take, seize”
- Proverbs 2:3 Or “call to understanding”
- Proverbs 2:3 Or “carry, give”
- Proverbs 2:4 Literally “like the treasures”
- Proverbs 2:7 Or “hides, keeps”
- Proverbs 2:8 Or “preserve, guard, watch”
- Proverbs 2:10 Or “inner self”
- Proverbs 2:12 Or “evildoer”
- Proverbs 2:15 Literally “that in their ways are crooked”
- Proverbs 2:16 Or “makes smooth”
- Proverbs 2:18 Or “Rephaim”
- Proverbs 2:21 Or “earth”
- Proverbs 2:21 Or “innocent”
Proverbs 2
International Standard Version
The Benefits of Embracing Wisdom
2 My son, if you accept my words,
and treasure my instructions[a]—
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom,
and turning your heart to understanding—
3 if, indeed, you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it like hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and learn to know God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright
and is a shield to those who walk in integrity—
8 guarding the paths of the just
and protecting the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right, just,
and upright—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion[b] 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[c] 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[d] 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.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and people of integrity will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be uprooted from it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:1 Lit. instructions within you
- 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
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