| Chapter 2 |
1 |
My son, if thou dost accept my sayings, And my commands dost lay up with thee,
|
2 |
To cause thine ear to attend to wisdom, Thou inclinest thy heart to understanding,
|
3 |
For, if for intelligence thou callest, For understanding givest forth thy voice,
|
4 |
If thou dost seek her as silver, And as hid treasures searchest for her,
|
5 |
Then understandest thou fear of Jehovah, And knowledge of God thou findest.
|
6 |
For Jehovah giveth wisdom, From His mouth knowledge and understanding.
|
7 |
Even to lay up for the upright substance, A shield for those walking uprightly.
|
8 |
To keep the paths of judgment, And the way of His saints He preserveth.
|
9 |
Then understandest thou righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness -- every good path.
|
10 |
For wisdom cometh into thy heart, And knowledge to thy soul is pleasant,
|
11 |
Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,
|
12 |
To deliver thee from an evil way, From any speaking froward things,
|
13 |
Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,
|
14 |
Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,
|
15 |
Whose paths [are] crooked, Yea, they are perverted in their ways.
|
16 |
To deliver thee from the strange woman, From the stranger who hath made smooth her sayings,
|
17 |
Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.
|
18 |
For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.
|
19 |
None going in unto her turn back, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
|
20 |
That thou dost go in the way of the good, And the paths of the righteous dost keep.
|
21 |
For the upright do inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,
|
22 |
And the wicked from the earth are cut off, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!
|