The Proverbs

2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words,

 And lay up my commandments with thee;

 ^2:2So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom,

 And apply thy heart to understanding;

 ^2:3Yea, if thou cry after discernment,

 And lift up thy voice for understanding;

 ^2:4If thou seek her as silver,

 And search for her as for hid treasures:

 ^2:5Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah,

 And find the knowledge of God.

 ^2:6For Jehovah giveth wisdom;

 Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:

 ^2:7He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright;

 He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;

 ^2:8That he may guard the paths of justice,

 And preserve the way of his saints.

 ^2:9Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice,

 And equity, yea, every good path.

 ^2:10For wisdom shall enter into thy heart,

 And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;

 ^2:11Discretion shall watch over thee;

 Understanding shall keep thee:

 ^2:12To deliver thee from the way of evil,

 From the men that speak perverse things;

 ^2:13Who forsake the paths of uprightness,

 To walk in the ways of darkness;

 ^2:14Who rejoice to do evil,

 And delight in the perverseness of evil;

 ^2:15Who are crooked in their ways,

 And wayward in their paths:

 ^2:16To deliver thee from the strange woman,

 Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

 ^2:17That forsaketh the friend of her youth,

 And forgetteth the covenant of her God:

 ^2:18For her house inclineth unto death,

 And her paths unto the dead;

 ^2:19None that go unto her return again,

 Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

 ^2:20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,

 And keep the paths of the righteous.

 ^2:21For the upright shall dwell in the land,

 And the perfect shall remain in it.

 ^2:22But the wicked shall be cut off from the land,

 And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.