Proverbs 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,

3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He holds victory in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.

12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,

13 who leave the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,

14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.

16 It will save you also from the adulteress,
from the wayward wife with her seductive words,

17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.

18 For her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of good men
and keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

PROVERBS 2

Wisdom and Bad Friends

1 My child, you must follow
and treasure my teachings
and my instructions.

2 Keep in tune with wisdom
and think what it means
to have common sense.

3 Beg as loud as you can
for good common sense.

4 Search for wisdom
as you would search for silver
or hidden treasure.

5 Then you will understand
what it means to respect
and to know the [Lord] God.

6  t All wisdom comes from the [Lord],
and so do common sense
and understanding.

7 God gives helpful advicet
to everyone who obeys him
and protects those
who live as they should.

8 God sees that justice is done,
and he watches over everyone
who is faithful to him.

9 With wisdom you will learn
what is right
and honest and fair.

10 Wisdom will control your mind,
and you will be pleased
with knowledge.

11 Sound judgment and good sense
will watch over you.

12 Wisdom will protect you
from evil schemes
and from those liars

13 who turned from doing good
to live in the darkness.

14 Most of all they enjoy
being mean and deceitful.

15 They are dishonest themselves,
and so are all their deeds.

Wisdom and Sexual Purity

16 Wisdom will protect you
from the smooth talk
of a sinful woman,

17 who breaks her wedding vows
and leaves the man she married
when she was young.

18 The road to her house leads
down
to the dark world
of the dead.

19 Visit her, and you will never
find the road to life again.

20 Follow the example
of good people
and live an honest life.

21 If you are honest and innocent,
you will keep your land;

22 if you do wrong
and can never be trusted,
you will be rooted out.