Proverbs 2
Lexham English Bible
The Benefits of Wisdom
2 My child, if you will receive[a] my sayings,
and hide my commands with you,
2 in order to incline your ear toward wisdom,
then you shall apply your heart to understanding.
3 For if you cry out for understanding,[b]
if you lift[c] your voice for insight,
4 if you seek her like silver
and search her out like treasure,[d]
5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,
and the knowledge of God you will find.
6 For Yahweh will give wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 For the upright, he stores[e] sound judgment, a shield for those who walk uprightly,
8 in order to guard paths of justice
and keep[f] the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and uprightness—every good course—
10 for wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul.[g]
11 Discretion will watch over you;
understanding will protect you,
12 in order to deliver you from the way of evil,[h]
from a man who speaks devious things—
13 those who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in ways of darkness,
14 those who are happy to do evil,
for they delight in the deviousness of evil,
15 who are crooked in their ways,[i]
and devious in their paths;
16 in order to deliver you from a strange woman,
from a foreign woman who flatters[j] with her sayings,
17 she who forsakes the partner of her youth
and has forgotten the covenant of her God,
18 for her house sinks to death,
and to the dead[k] are her paths.
19 Of all who go to her, none shall return,
nor do they reach paths of life.
20 So that you will walk on the road of those who are good,
and the paths of those who are righteous you shall keep.
21 For those who are upright will dwell in the land,[l]
and those who are blameless[m] will remain in it.
22 And those who are wicked will be cut off from the land,
and those who are treacherous will be uprooted from it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:1 Or “take, seize”
- Proverbs 2:3 Or “call to understanding”
- Proverbs 2:3 Or “carry, give”
- Proverbs 2:4 Literally “like the treasures”
- Proverbs 2:7 Or “hides, keeps”
- Proverbs 2:8 Or “preserve, guard, watch”
- Proverbs 2:10 Or “inner self”
- Proverbs 2:12 Or “evildoer”
- Proverbs 2:15 Literally “that in their ways are crooked”
- Proverbs 2:16 Or “makes smooth”
- Proverbs 2:18 Or “Rephaim”
- Proverbs 2:21 Or “earth”
- Proverbs 2:21 Or “innocent”
Proverbs 2
Expanded Bible
Rewards of Wisdom
2 My ·child [or son], ·listen to [grasp] what I say
and ·remember [L store up] what I command you.
2 ·Listen carefully [L Bend your ear] to wisdom;
·set your mind on [L stretch your heart to] understanding.
3 Cry out for wisdom,
and ·beg [shout out loud] for understanding.
4 ·Search [Seek] for it like silver,
and ·hunt [search] for it like hidden treasure.
5 Then you will understand ·respect [fear; awe; 1:7] for the Lord,
and you will find ·that you know God [the knowledge of God].
6 Only the Lord gives wisdom;
·he gives [L from his mouth comes] knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up ·wisdom [resourcefulness] for those who ·are honest [have integrity].
Like a shield he protects the innocent.
8 He ·makes sure that justice is done [L guards the path of justice],
and he protects those who are loyal to him.
9 Then you will understand what is ·honest [righteous] and ·fair [just]
and what is ·the good and right thing to do [L virtuous, every good course/path].
10 Wisdom will ·come into your mind [penetrate your heart],
and knowledge will be ·pleasing [attractive] to you.
11 ·Good sense [Discretion] will protect you;
understanding will guard you.
12 It will keep you from the ·wicked [L evil path],
from those whose words are ·bad [perverted; twisted],
13 who ·don’t do what is right [L abandoned the road of integrity]
but ·what is evil [L go on dark paths].
14 They enjoy doing wrong
and are happy ·to do what is crooked and [L with their twisted] evil.
15 What they do is ·wrong [confused],
and ·their ways are dishonest [L they go on wrong courses].
16 It [C Wisdom] will save you from the ·unfaithful wife [L strange woman]
·who tries to lead you into adultery [L from the foreign woman] with ·pleasing words [flattery; compliments].
17 She leaves ·the husband she married when she was young [L the intimate relationship of her youth].
She ·ignores [forgets] ·the promise she made before [L her covenant with] God.
18 Her house ·is on the way [L sinks down] to death;
·those who took that path are now all dead [or her paths come down to her dead ancestors].
19 No one who goes to her comes back
or walks the path of life again.
20 ·But wisdom will help you be good [or Stay on the path of good people]
and ·do what is right [guard the road of the righteous].
21 Those who ·are honest [have integrity/virtue] will live in the land,
and those who are ·innocent [blameless] will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be ·removed [L cut off] from the land,
and the unfaithful will be ·thrown out of [L uprooted from] it.
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