Proverbs 2:11–20

discretion will watch over you,

understanding will guard you,

delivering you from the way of evil,

from men of perverted speech,

who forsake the paths of uprightness

to walk in the ways of darkness,

who rejoice in doing evil

and delight in the perverseness of evil,

men whose paths are crooked,

and who are devious in their ways.

So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words,

who forsakes the companion of her youth

and forgets the covenant of her God;

for her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the departed;

none who go to her come back,

nor do they regain the paths of life.

So you will walk in the way of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

Discretion will protect you,

and understanding will guard you.

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,

from men whose words are perverse,

who have left the straight paths

to walk in dark ways,

who delight in doing wrong

and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

whose paths are crooked

and who are devious in their ways.

Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,

from the wayward woman with her seductive words,

who has left the partner of her youth

and ignored the covenant she made before God.

Surely her house leads down to death

and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

None who go to her return

or attain the paths of life.

Thus you will walk in the ways of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

Discretion will watch over you,

and understanding will guard you.

It will rescue you from the way of evil—

from anyone who says perverse things,

from those who abandon the right paths

to walk in ways of darkness,

from those who enjoy doing evil

and celebrate perversion,

whose paths are crooked,

and whose ways are devious.

It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,

from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,

who abandons the companion of her youth

and forgets the covenant of her God;

for her house sinks down to death

and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.

None return who go to her;

none reach the paths of life.

So follow the way of the good,

and keep to the paths of the righteous.

Wise choices will watch over you.

Understanding will keep you safe.

Wisdom will save you from evil people,

from those whose words are twisted.

These men turn from the right way

to walk down dark paths.

They take pleasure in doing wrong,

and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.

Their actions are crooked,

and their ways are wrong.

Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman,

from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.

She has abandoned her husband

and ignores the covenant she made before God.

Entering her house leads to death;

it is the road to the grave.

The man who visits her is doomed.

He will never reach the paths of life.

So follow the steps of the good,

and stay on the paths of the righteous.

Discretion will watch over you;

understanding will protect you,

in order to deliver you from the way of evil,

from a man who speaks devious things—

those who forsake the paths of uprightness

to walk in ways of darkness,

those who are happy to do evil,

for they delight in the deviousness of evil,

who are crooked in their ways,

and devious in their paths;

in order to deliver you from a strange woman,

from a foreign woman who flatters with her sayings,

she who forsakes the partner of her youth

and has forgotten the covenant of her God,

for her house sinks to death,

and to the dead are her paths.

Of all who go to her, none shall return,

nor do they reach paths of life.

So that you will walk on the road of those who are good,

and the paths of those who are righteous you shall keep.

Discretion shall preserve thee,

Understanding shall keep thee:

To deliver thee from the way of the evil man,

From the man that speaketh froward things;

Who leave the paths of uprightness,

To walk in the ways of darkness;

Who rejoice to do evil,

And delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

Whose ways are crooked,

And they froward in their paths:

To deliver thee from the strange woman,

Even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth,

And forgetteth the covenant of her God.

For her house inclineth unto death,

And her paths unto the dead.

None that go unto her return again,

Neither take they hold of the paths of life.

That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,

And keep the paths of the righteous.