Proverbs 2
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh Gives Wisdom
2 My son, if you will (A)receive my words
And (B)treasure my commandments within you,
2 (C)To make your ear pay attention to wisdom,
Incline your heart to discernment;
3 For if you call out for understanding,
Give your voice for discernment;
4 If you seek her as (D)silver
And search for her as for (E)hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the (F)fear of Yahweh
And find the knowledge of God.
6 For (G)Yahweh gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and discernment.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright,
A (H)shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 To guard the paths of justice,
And He (I)keeps the way of His holy ones.
9 Then you will understand (J)righteousness and justice
And equity—every (K)good track.
10 For (L)wisdom will enter your heart
And (M)knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 Discretion will (N)keep you,
Discernment will guard you,
12 To (O)deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks (P)perverse things;
13 From those who (Q)forsake the paths of uprightness
To walk in the (R)ways of darkness;
14 Who are (S)glad to do evil
And they rejoice in the perversity of evil;
15 Whose paths are (T)crooked,
And who are devious in their tracks;
16 To deliver you from the [a](U)strange woman,
From the [b](V)foreign woman who flatters with her words;
17 Who forsakes the close (W)companion of her youth
And forgets the (X)covenant of her God;
18 For (Y)her house [c]sinks down to death
And her tracks descend to the [d]dead;
19 All (Z)who go to her will not return,
And they will not reach the (AA)paths of life.
20 So that you will (AB)walk in the way of good men
And keep to the (AC)paths of the righteous.
21 For (AD)the upright will dwell in the land
And (AE)the blameless will remain in it;
22 But (AF)the wicked will be cut off from the land
And (AG)the treacherous will be (AH)torn away from it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:16 A forbidden woman, outside of the marriage covenant; an adulteress; parallel with foreign woman; so in Prov
- Proverbs 2:16 An unfamiliar woman, alien to the marriage covenant; parallel with strange woman
- Proverbs 2:18 Lit bows down
- Proverbs 2:18 Lit departed spirits
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.
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