Proverbs 2

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

2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;⋮

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;⋮

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;⋮

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.⋮

6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.⋮

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.⋮

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.⋮

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.⋮

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;⋮

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:⋮

12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, 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 frowardness of the wicked;⋮

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:⋮

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;⋮

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.⋮

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.⋮

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.⋮

20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, 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 of it.⋮