| Chapter 2 |
1 |
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee, |
2 |
That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence: |
3 |
For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence: |
4 |
If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure: |
5 |
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God. |
6 |
Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge. |
7 |
He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity. |
8 |
Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints. |
9 |
Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path. |
10 |
If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul: |
11 |
Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee, |
12 |
That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things: |
13 |
Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways: |
14 |
Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things: |
15 |
Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous. |
16 |
That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words: |
17 |
And forsaketh the guide of her youth, |
18 |
And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell. |
19 |
None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life, |
20 |
That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just. |
21 |
For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it. |
22 |
But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it. |
