Proverbs 2
New Living Translation
The Benefits of Wisdom
2 My child,[a] listen to what I say,
and treasure my commands.
2 Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding.
3 Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.
4 Search for them as you would for silver;
seek them like hidden treasures.
5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
and you will gain knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord grants wisdom!
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.
He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
8 He guards the paths of the just
and protects those who are faithful to him.
9 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.
Proverbs 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Value of Wisdom
2 My child, if you accept my words
and treasure up my commandments within you,(A)
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding,
3 if you indeed cry out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures—(B)
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.(C)
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;(D)
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,(E)
8 guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of his faithful ones.(F)
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path,(G)
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 prudence will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you.
12 It will save you from the way of evil,
from those who speak perversely,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,(H)
14 who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,(I)
15 those whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.(J)
16 You will be saved from the loose woman,[a]
from the adulteress[b] with her smooth words,(K)
17 who forsakes the partner of her youth
and forgets her sacred covenant,
18 for her way[c] leads down to death
and her paths to the shades;(L)
19 those who go to her never come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.