Proverbs 2

The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

1My son, if you will 1receive my words And 2treasure my commandments within you,23Make your ear attentive to wisdom; Incline your heart to understanding.3For if you cry out for insight, And 4raise your voice for understanding;4If you seek her as 5silver And search for her as for 6hidden treasures;5Then you will understand the 7fear of the Lord, And discover the knowledge of God.6For 8the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.7He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a 9shield to those who walk in integrity,8Guarding the paths of justice, And He 10watches over the way of His godly ones.9Then you will discern 11righteousness, justice, And integrity, and every 12good path.10For 13wisdom will enter your heart, And 14knowledge will be delightful to your soul;11Discretion will 15watch over you, Understanding will guard you,12To 16rescue you from the way of evil, From a person who speaks 17perverse things;13From those who 18leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the 19ways of darkness;14Who 20delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil;15Whose paths are 21crooked, And who are devious in their ways;16To 22rescue you from the strange woman, From the 23foreign woman who flatters with her words,17Who leaves the 24companion of her youth And forgets the 25covenant of her God;18For 26her house sinks down to death, And her tracks lead to the 27dead;19None 28who go to her return, Nor do they reach the 29paths of life.20So you will 30walk in the way of good people And keep to the 31paths of the righteous.21For 32the upright will live in the land, And 33the blameless will remain in it;22But 34the wicked will be eliminated from the land, And 35the treacherous will be 36torn away from it.