The words of the Bible

Proverbs 2

The excellence of Wisdom.

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee,

2 so that you attend to wisdom your ear, and apply your heart to understanding;

3 yes, if you call out for discernment, and understanding lift up thy voice;

4 if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures;

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; and shield to those who walk in integrity,

8 guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion will protect you, and discernment and guard;

12 to deliver you from the bad way, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 of which are crooked in their ways; and wayward in their careers;

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

18 For her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead.

19 None that go unto her out, neither take the paths of life.

20 So you may walk in the good way, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out.