Proverbs 2

Verse 1My son, if you will receive my words,

and store up my commandments within you,

Verse 2so as to turn your ear to wisdom,

and apply your heart to understanding;

Verse 3yes, if you call out for discernment,

and lift up your voice for understanding;

Verse 4if you seek her as silver,

and search for her as for hidden treasures;

Verse 5then you will understand the fear of the LORD,

and find the knowledge of God.a

Verse 6For the LORD gives wisdom.

Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Verse 7He lays up sound wisdom for the upright.

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Verse 8that he may guard the paths of justice,

and preserve the way of his saints.

Verse 9Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

equity and every good path.

Verse 10For wisdom will enter into your heart.

Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Verse 11Discretion will watch over you.

Understanding will keep you,

Verse 12to deliver you from the way of evil,

from the men who speak perverse things,

Verse 13who forsake the paths of uprightness,

to walk in the ways of darkness,

Verse 14who rejoice to do evil,

and delight in the perverseness of evil,

Verse 15who are crooked in their ways,

and wayward in their paths,

Verse 16to deliver you from the strange woman,

even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

Verse 17who forsakes the friend of her youth,

and forgets the covenant of her God;

Verse 18for her house leads down to death,

her paths to the departed spirits.

Verse 19None who go to her return again,

neither do they attain to the paths of life.

Verse 20Therefore walk in the way of good men,

and keep the paths of the righteous.

Verse 21For the upright will dwell in the land.

The perfect will remain in it.

Verse 22But the wicked will be cut off from the land.

The treacherous will be rooted out of it.