Proverbs 2

The Value of Wisdom

2^uMy son, ^vif you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

²making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

³yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice ^wfor understanding,

⁴if you seek it like ^xsilver

and search for it as for ^yhidden treasures,

⁵then ^zyou will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For ^athe Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is ^ba shield to those who ^cwalk in integrity,

⁸guarding the paths of justice

and ^dwatching over the way of his ^esaints.

^9fThen you will understand ^grighteousness and justice

and equity, every good path;

¹⁰for wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

^11hdiscretion will ⁱwatch over you,

understanding will guard you,

¹²delivering you from the way of evil,

from men of perverted speech,

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness

to ^jwalk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴who ^krejoice in doing evil

and ^ldelight in the perverseness of evil,

¹⁵men whose ^mpaths are crooked,

ⁿand who are ^odevious in their ways.

¹⁶So ^pyou will be delivered from the forbidden¹ woman,

from ^qthe adulteress² with ^rher smooth words,

¹⁷who forsakes ^sthe companion of her youth

and forgets ^tthe covenant of her God;

^18ufor her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the departed;³

¹⁹none who go to her come back,

nor do they regain the paths of life.

²⁰So you will walk in the way of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright ^vwill inhabit the land,

and those with integrity will remain in it,

²²but the wicked will be ^wcut off from the land,

and the treacherous will be ^xrooted out of it.