| 2:1 | My child,* if* you receive my words, and store up* my commands within you, |
| 2:2 | by making* your ear* attentive to wisdom, and* by turning* your heart* to understanding, |
| 2:3 | indeed, if* you call out for* discernment* – raise your voice* for understanding – |
| 2:4 | if* you seek* it like silver,* and search for it* like hidden treasure, |
| 2:5 | then you will understand* how to fear the Lord,* and you will discover* knowledge* about God.* |
| 2:6 | For* the Lord gives* wisdom, and from his mouth* comes* knowledge and understanding. |
| 2:7 | He stores up* effective counsel* for the upright,* and is like* a shield* for those who live* with integrity,* |
| 2:8 | to guard* the paths of the righteous* and to protect* the way of his pious ones.* |
| 2:9 | Then you will understand* righteousness and justice and equity – every* good* way.* |
| 2:10 | For wisdom will enter your heart,* and moral knowledge* will be attractive* to you.* |
| 2:11 | Discretion* will protect you,* understanding will guard you, |
| 2:12 | to deliver* you from the way of the wicked,* from those* speaking perversity,* |
| 2:13 | who leave* the upright* paths to walk on the dark* ways, |
| 2:14 | who delight* in doing* evil,* they rejoice in perverse evil;* |
| 2:15 | whose paths* are morally crooked,* and who are devious* in their ways; |
| 2:16 | to deliver you* from the adulteress,* from the sexually loose woman* who speaks flattering* words;* |
| 2:17 | who leaves* the husband* from her younger days,* and forgets her marriage covenant* made before God.* |
| 2:18 | For her house* sinks* down to death, and her paths lead* to the place of the departed spirits.* |
| 2:19 | None who go in to her will return,* nor will they reach the paths of life.* |
| 2:20 | So* you will walk in the way of good people,* and will keep on the paths of the righteous.* |
| 2:21 | For the upright will reside in the land, and those with integrity* will remain in it, |
| 2:22 | but the wicked* will be removed* from the land, and the treacherous* will be torn away* from it. |
Proverbs 2 - NET Bible [draft]
