¹My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee, ²To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding, ³For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice, ⁴If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her, ⁵Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest. ⁶For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.

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Proverbs 2:4–5: if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

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In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

NIVNew International Version (2011)

My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding—

indeed, if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

listening closely to wisdom

and directing your heart to understanding;

furthermore, if you call out to insight

and lift your voice to understanding,

if you seek it like silver

and search for it like hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and discover the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

NLTNew Living Translation

My child, listen to what I say,

and treasure my commands.

Tune your ears to wisdom,

and concentrate on understanding.

Cry out for insight,

and ask for understanding.

Search for them as you would for silver;

seek them like hidden treasures.

Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,

and you will gain knowledge of God.

For the Lord grants wisdom!

From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

My child, if you will receive my sayings,

and hide my commands with you,

in order to incline your ear toward wisdom,

then you shall apply your heart to understanding.

For if you cry out for understanding,

if you lift your voice for insight,

if you seek her like silver

and search her out like treasure,

then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,

and the knowledge of God you will find.

For Yahweh will give wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

KJV 1900King James Version

My son, if thou wilt receive my words,

And hide my commandments with thee;

So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,

And apply thine heart to understanding;

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,

And liftest up thy voice for understanding;

If thou seekest her as silver,

And searchest for her as for hid treasures;

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,

And find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord giveth wisdom:

Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Public Domain