Proverbs 2:6–20

^6dFor the Lord gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

⁷He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

^eHe is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

⁸He guards the paths of justice,

And ^fpreserves the way of His saints.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice,

Equity and every good path.

¹⁰When wisdom enters your heart,

And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,

¹¹Discretion will preserve you;

^gUnderstanding will keep you,

¹²To deliver you from the way of evil,

From the man who speaks perverse things,

¹³From those who leave the paths of uprightness

To ^hwalk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴ⁱWho rejoice in doing evil,

And delight in the perversity of the wicked;

^15jWhose ways are crooked,

And who are devious in their paths;

¹⁶To deliver you from ^kthe immoral woman,

^lFrom the seductress who flatters with her words,

¹⁷Who forsakes the companion of her youth,

And forgets the covenant of her God.

¹⁸For ^mher house ¹leads down to death,

And her paths to the dead;

¹⁹None who go to her return,

Nor do they ²regain the paths of life—

²⁰So you may walk in the way of goodness,

And keep to the paths of righteousness.