Proverbs 2
Good News Translation
The Rewards of Wisdom
2 My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do. 2 Listen to what is wise and try to understand it. 3 Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight. 4 Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure. 5 If you do, you will know what it means to fear the Lord and you will succeed in learning about God. 6 (A)It is the Lord who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding. 7 He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest. 8 He protects those who treat others fairly, and guards those who are devoted to him.
9 If you listen to me, you will know what is right, just, and fair. You will know what you should do. 10 You will become wise, and your knowledge will give you pleasure. 11 Your insight and understanding will protect you 12 and prevent you from doing the wrong thing. They will keep you away from people who stir up trouble by what they say— 13 those who have abandoned a righteous life to live in the darkness of sin, 14 those who find pleasure in doing wrong and who enjoy senseless evil, 15 unreliable people who cannot be trusted.
16 You will be able to resist any immoral woman who tries to seduce you with her smooth talk, 17 who is faithless to her own husband and forgets her sacred vows. 18 If you go to her house, you are traveling the road to death. To go there is to approach the world of the dead. 19 No one who visits her ever comes back. He never returns to the road to life. 20 So you must follow the example of good people and live a righteous life. 21 Righteous people—people of integrity—will live in this land of ours. 22 But God will snatch the wicked from the land and pull sinners out of it like plants from the ground.
Proverbs 2
New King James Version
The Value of Wisdom
2 My son, if you receive my words,
And (A)treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 (B)If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 (C)Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
6 (D)For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
(E)He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
8 He guards the paths of justice,
And (F)preserves the way of His saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.
10 When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11 Discretion will preserve you;
(G)Understanding will keep you,
12 To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things,
13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To (H)walk in the ways of darkness;
14 (I)Who rejoice in doing evil,
And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
15 (J)Whose ways are crooked,
And who are devious in their paths;
16 To deliver you from (K)the immoral woman,
(L)From the seductress who flatters with her words,
17 Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
And forgets the covenant of her God.
18 For (M)her house [a]leads down to death,
And her paths to the dead;
19 None who go to her return,
Nor do they [b]regain the paths of life—
20 So you may walk in the way of goodness,
And keep to the paths of righteousness.
21 For the upright will dwell in the (N)land,
And the blameless will remain in it;
22 But the wicked will be [c]cut off from the [d]earth,
And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:18 sinks
- Proverbs 2:19 Lit. reach
- Proverbs 2:22 destroyed
- Proverbs 2:22 land
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
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. 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.
