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New Testament
Proverbs 2
Second Address to a Son:
Wisdom Provides Protection
21My son, if you accept my words,
if you store up my commands within you,
by reaching out for understanding with your heart,
3if indeed you call out for intelligence,
if you raise your voice for understanding,
4if you search for it like silver,
if you hunt for it like hidden treasure,
5then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
then you will find the knowledge of God,
6because the Lord gives wisdom.
Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth.
7He stores up sound judgment for upright people.
He is a shield for those who walk in integrity.
8He protects those who walk on paths of justice.
9Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and fairness—every good path,
10because wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant for your soul.
11Foresight will stand guard over you.
Understanding will protect you.
12It will save you from the evil way,
from the man who speaks perverse things,
13from those who abandon upright paths
in order to walk in the ways of darkness.
14It will save you from those who enjoy doing evil,
from those who celebrate the twisted ways of evil,
15from those whose paths are crooked,
and from those whose ways are devious.
Wisdom Protects You From the Adulterous Woman
17who abandons the husband of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God.
Her way of life leads down to the spirits of the dead.
19All who enter her house never return.
They never reach the paths of life.
Admonition to Live Righteously
20This is how to walk in the way of good people,
how to stay on the paths of the righteous.
21Yes, the upright will live in the land,
and people with integrity will remain in it,
22but wicked people will be cut off from the land,
and treacherous people will be torn out of it.
Footnotes
- 2:2 Or so you can pay attention
- 2:8 Or those who are merciful or those who have received his mercy
- 2:16 Literally from the strange woman, that is, one who is married to another man
- 2:16 Literally from the foreign woman, that is, one who is married to another man
- 2:18 The line is difficult and the translation is uncertain.