Proverbs 2:7-22

Christian Standard Bible

⁷ He stores up success^[a] for the upright;
He is a shield for those who live with integrity^(A)
8 so that he may guard the paths of justice
and protect the way of his faithful followers.^(B)
9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and integrity—every good path.
¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will delight you.
¹¹ Discretion will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you.^(C)
12 It will rescue you from the way of evil—
from anyone who says perverse things,
¹³ from those who abandon the right paths
to walk in ways of darkness,^(D)
14 from those who enjoy doing evil^(E)
and celebrate perversion,
¹⁵ whose paths are crooked,^(F)
and whose ways are devious.^(G)
16 It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,^(H)
from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,^(I)
17 who abandons the companion of her youth^(J)
and forgets the covenant of her God;
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death
and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.^(K)
19 None return who go to her;
none reach the paths of life.^(L)
20 So follow the way of the good,^(M)
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those of integrity will remain in it;^(N)
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,^(O)
and the treacherous ripped out of it.^(P)