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Proverbs 2

The Benefit of Wisdom

1 My son,if you take my words to heartand treasure my commands within you,2 if you pay close attention to wisdom,and let your mind reach for understanding,3 if indeed you call out for insight,if you ask aloud for understanding,4 if you search for wisdom as if it were moneyand hunt for it as if it were hidden treasure,5 then you will understand the fear of the Lordand you will find the knowledge of God.6 The Lord gives wisdom.From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.7 He has reserved priceless wisdom for decent people.He is a shield for those who walk in integrity8 in order to guard those on paths of justiceand to watch over the way of his godly ones.9 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 youfrom the way of evil,from the person who speaks devious things,13 from those who abandon the paths of righteousnessto 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 youfrom 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 God.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 peopleand 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 landand treacherous people will be tornt from it.

Proverbs 2

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;

2 So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;

4 If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.

6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:

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

8 That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, yea, every good path.

10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;

13 Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

17 That forsaketh the friend 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 unto the paths of life:

20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, 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 treacherous shall be rooted out of it.