The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security
And treasure my commandments within you,
2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom;
Incline your heart to understanding.
3 For if you cry out for insight,
And [a]raise your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And discover the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 Guarding the paths of justice,
And He watches over the way of His godly ones.
9 Then you will discern righteousness, justice,
And integrity, and every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
And knowledge will be delightful to your soul;
11 Discretion will watch over you,
Understanding will guard you,
12 To rescue you from the way of evil,
From a person who speaks perverse things;
13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who delight in doing evil
And rejoice in the perversity of evil;
15 Whose paths are crooked,
And who are devious in their ways;
16 To rescue you from the strange woman,
From the foreign woman who flatters with her words,
17 Who leaves the companion of her youth
And forgets the covenant of her God;
18 For her house sinks down to death,
And her tracks lead to the [b]dead;
19 None who go to her return,
Nor do they reach the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of good people
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 eliminated from the land,
And the treacherous will be torn away from it.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:3 Lit give
- Proverbs 2:18 Lit departed spirits