Proverbs, 2

¹ My son, if you accept my sayings And treasure up my commandments,

² By making your ear attentive to wisdom And inclining your heart to discernment;

³ Moreover, if you call out for understanding And raise your voice for discernment;

⁴ If you keep seeking for it as for silver, And you keep searching for it as for hidden treasures;

⁵ Then you will understand the fear of Jehovah, And you will find the knowledge of God.

⁶ For Jehovah himself gives wisdom; From his mouth come knowledge and discernment.

⁷ He treasures up practical wisdom for the upright; He is a shield for those walking in integrity.

⁸ He watches over the paths of justice, And he will guard the way of his loyal ones.

⁹ Then you will understand what is righteous and just and fair, The entire course of what is good.

¹⁰ When wisdom enters your heart And knowledge becomes pleasant to your soul,^*1

¹¹ Thinking ability will keep watch over you, And discernment will safeguard you,

¹² To save you from the bad course, From the man speaking perverse things,

¹³ From those leaving the upright paths To walk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴ From those who rejoice in wrongdoing, Who find joy in the perverseness of evil,

¹⁵ Those whose paths are crooked And whose entire course is devious.

¹⁶ It will save you from the wayward^*1 woman, From the smooth^*2 words of the immoral^*3 woman,

¹⁷ Who abandons the close companion^*1 of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

¹⁸ For her house sinks down into death, And her paths^*1 lead to those powerless in death.

¹⁹ None of those having relations with^*1 her will return, Nor will they regain the pathways of life.

²⁰ So follow the way of good people And stay on the paths of the righteous,

²¹ For only the upright will reside in the earth, And the blameless^*1 will remain in it.

²² As for the wicked, they will be cut off from the earth, And the treacherous will be torn away from it.