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The Benefit of Wisdom

My son,
    if you take my words to heart
        and treasure my commands within you,
if you pay close attention to wisdom,
    and let your mind reach for understanding,
if indeed you call out for insight,
    if you ask aloud for understanding,
if you search for wisdom as if it were money
    and hunt for it as if it were hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of Yahweh
    and you will find the knowledge of Elohim.
Yahweh gives wisdom.
    From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He has reserved priceless wisdom for decent people.
    He is a Magen for those who walk in integrity
in order to guard those on paths of justice
    and to watch over the way of his godly ones.
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—
    every good course in life.

10 Wisdom will come into your heart.
    Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Foresight will protect you.
    Understanding will guard you.

12 Wisdom will save you
    from the way of evil,
        from the person who speaks devious things,
13 from those who abandon the paths of righteousness
    to walk the ways of darkness,
14 from those who enjoy doing evil,
    from those who find joy in the deviousness of evil.
15 Their paths are crooked.
    Their ways are devious.

16 Wisdom will also save you
    from an adulterous woman,
        from a loose woman with her smooth talk,
17 who leaves her husband, the closest friend of her youth,
    and forgets her marriage vows to her Elohim.
18 Her house sinks down to death.
    Her ways lead to the souls of the dead.
19 None who have sex with her come back.
    Nor do they ever reach the paths of life.

20 So walk in the way of good people
    and stay on the paths of righteous people.
21 Decent people will live in the land.
    People of integrity will remain in it.
22 But wicked people will be cut off from the land
    and treacherous people will be torn[a] from it.

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:22 Or “will be swept away.”

My son, if thou receivest my words, and layest up my commandments with thee,

so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom [and] thou apply thy heart to understanding;

yea, if thou criest after discernment [and] liftest up thy voice to understanding;

if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures:

then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God.

For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [come] knowledge and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; [he] is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

guarding the paths of just judgment and keeping the way of his godly ones.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity: every good path.

10 When wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,

11 discretion shall keep thee, understanding shall preserve thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13 [from those] who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight in the frowardness of evil;

15 whose paths are crooked, and who are perverted in their course:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words;

17 who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God;

18 —for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead;

19 none that go unto her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

20 —that thou mayest walk in the way of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it;

22 but the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful shall be plucked up out of it.