Proverbs — Chapter 2

My son, if you accept my wordsAnd treasure up my commandments;

If you make your ear attentive to wisdomAnd your mind open to discernment;

If you call to understandingAnd cry aloud to discernment,

If you seek it as you do silverAnd search for it as for treasures,

Then you will understand the fear of GOD And attain knowledge of God.

For GOD grants wisdom;Knowledge and discernment are by God’s decree.

Ability is reserved for the uprightAnd [God] is a shield for those who live blamelessly,

Guarding the paths of justice,Protecting the way of those who are loyal.

You will then understand what is right, just,And equitable—every good course.

For wisdom will enter your mindAnd knowledge will delight you.

Foresight will protect you,And discernment will guard you.

It will save you from an evildoer’s ways,From a man who speaks duplicity—

Those who leave the paths of rectitudeTo follow the ways of darkness,

Who rejoice in doing evilAnd exult in an evildoer’s duplicity,

All whose paths are crookedAnd who are devious in their course.

It will save you from the forbiddenaforbidden Lit. “strange.” woman,From the alien woman whose talk is smooth,

Who forsakes the companion of her youthAnd disregards the covenant of her God.

Her house sinks down to Death,And her course leads to the shades.

All who go to her cannot returnAnd find again the paths of life.

So follow the way of the goodAnd keep to the paths of the just.

For the upright will inhabit the earth,The blameless will remain in it.

While the wicked will vanish from the landAnd the treacherous will be rooted out of it.