Proverbs 2
Complete Jewish Bible
2 My son, if you will receive my words
and store my commands inside you,
2 paying attention to wisdom
inclining your mind toward understanding —
3 yes, if you will call for insight
and raise your voice for discernment,
4 if you seek it as you would silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure —
5 then you will understand the fear of Adonai
and find knowledge of God.
6 For Adonai gives wisdom;
from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up common sense for the upright,
is a shield to those whose conduct is blameless,
8 in order to guard the courses of justice
and preserve the way of those faithful to him.
9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
fairness and every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
knowledge will be enjoyable for you,
11 discretion will watch over you,
and discernment will guard you.
12 They will save you from the way of evil
and from those who speak deceitfully,
13 who leave the paths of honesty
to walk the ways of darkness,
14 who delight in doing evil
and take joy in being stubbornly deceitful,
15 from those whose tracks are twisted
and whose paths are perverse.
16 They will save you from a woman who is a stranger,
from a loose woman with smooth talk,
17 who abandons the ruler she had in her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 Her house is sinking toward death,
her paths lead to the dead.
19 None who go to her return;
they never regain the path to life.
20 Thus you will walk on the way of good people
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
the pure-hearted will remain there;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
the unfaithful rooted out of it.
Proverbs 2
English Standard Version
The Value of Wisdom
2 (A)My son, (B)if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice (C)for understanding,
4 if you seek it like (D)silver
and search for it as for (E)hidden treasures,
5 then (F)you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For (G)the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is (H)a shield to those who (I)walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and (J)watching over the way of his (K)saints.
9 (L)Then you will understand (M)righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 (N)discretion will (O)watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to (P)walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who (Q)rejoice in doing evil
and (R)delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose (S)paths are crooked,
(T)and who are (U)devious in their ways.
16 So (V)you will be delivered from the forbidden[a] woman,
from (W)the adulteress[b] with (X)her smooth words,
17 who forsakes (Y)the companion of her youth
and forgets (Z)the covenant of her God;
18 (AA)for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;[c]
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright (AB)will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be (AC)cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be (AD)rooted out of it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:16 Hebrew strange
- Proverbs 2:16 Hebrew foreign woman
- Proverbs 2:18 Hebrew to the Rephaim
Proverbs 2
Wycliffe Bible
2 My son, if thou receivest my words, and hidest my behests with thee (and hidest my commands with thee);
2 (so) that thine ear hear wisdom, bow (down) thine heart to know prudence.
3 For if thou inwardly callest (to) wisdom, and bowest thine heart to(ward) prudence;
4 if thou seekest it as money, and diggest it out as treasures;
5 then thou shalt understand the dread of the Lord, and shalt find the knowing of God. (then thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord/then thou shalt understand reverence for the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God.)
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom; and prudence and knowing is of his mouth. (For the Lord giveth wisdom; and understanding and knowledge cometh from his mouth.)
7 He shall keep the health of rightful men, and he shall defend them that go simply. (He shall keep safe the salvation, or the deliverance, of the righteous, and he shall defend those who go with honesty, or with integrity.)
8 And he shall keep (safe) the paths of rightwiseness, and he shall keep (safe) the ways of holy men.
9 Then thou shalt understand rightfulness, and doom, and equity, and each good path. (Then thou shalt understand righteousness, and judgement, and fairness, and each good way.)
10 If wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowing pleaseth thy soul,
11 good counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall keep thee; (good advice shall keep thee safe, and understanding shall keep thee safe;)
12 (so) that thou be delivered from an evil way, and from a man that speaketh wayward things (and from the person who speaketh wicked things).
13 Which forsake a rightful way (Yea, from those who abandon the right way), and go by dark ways;
14 which be glad, when they have done evil, and make full out joy in worst things; (who be glad, when they have done evil, and rejoice in the worst things;)
15 whose ways be wayward, and their goings be of evil fame. (whose ways be wicked, and whose deeds be shameful.)
16 That thou be delivered from an alien woman, and from a strange woman, that maketh soft her words; (And so that thou be rescued from a strange, or an unknown, woman, who maketh her words soft;)
17 and (who) forsaketh the duke, or (the) leader, of her time of marriage, and hath forgotten the covenant of her God.
18 For the house of her is bowed to death, and her paths to hell. (For her house is on the way to death, and her paths lead down to Sheol, or the land of the dead/and her paths lead down to hell.)
19 All that enter to her, shall not turn again, neither they shall catch the paths of life. (All who go to her, shall never return, nor shall they ever walk again on the paths of life.)
20 That thou go in a good way, and keep the paths of just men. (So see that thou go on a good way, and keep to the paths of the righteous.)
21 Forsooth they that be rightful, shall dwell in the land; and simple men shall perfectly dwell therein. (For they who be upright, shall live in the land; and those who be honest/and those with integrity shall live there.)
22 But unfaithful men shall be lost from the land; and they that do wickedly, shall be taken away from it. (But the unfaithful shall be destroyed from off the land; and those who do wickedly, shall be taken away from it.)
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
2001 by Terence P. Noble