Proverbs
Summary
Wisdom is described as a treasure to be sought diligently. Those who find it receive protection and understanding from the LORD, who preserves the way of His saints. Discretion will guard against the way of the evil man and the strange woman, leading to the path of the upright.
My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;
So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you shall understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom: out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.
He keeps the paths of judgement, and preserves the way of His saints.
Then you shall understand righteousness, and judgement, and equity; yes, every good path.
When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul;
Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:
To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man who speaks perverse things;
Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of the wicked;
Whose ways are crooked, and they are perverse in their paths:
To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words;
Who forsakes the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.
For her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead.
None who go to her return again, nor do they take hold of the paths of life.
That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.