Chapter 2
The Blessings of Wisdom
1 My son, if you receive my words
and treasure my commands,
2 Turning your ear to wisdom,
inclining your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you call for intelligence,
and to understanding raise your voice;
4 If you seek her like silver,
and like hidden treasures search her out,
5 Then will you understand the fear of the Lord;
the knowledge of God you will find;
6 For the Lord gives wisdom,
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;(A)
7 He has success in store for the upright,
is the shield of those who walk honestly,
8 Guarding the paths of justice,
protecting the way of his faithful ones,
9 Then you will understand what is right and just,
what is fair, every good path;
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
knowledge will be at home in your soul,
11 Discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you;
12 Saving you from the way of the wicked,
from those whose speech is perverse.
13 From those who have left the straight paths
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 Who delight in doing evil
and celebrate perversity;
15 Whose ways are crooked,
whose paths are devious;
16 Saving you from a stranger,
from a foreign woman with her smooth words,(B)
17 One who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 For her path sinks down to death,
and her footsteps lead to the shades.(C)
19 None who enter there come back,
or gain the paths of life.
20 Thus you may walk in the way of the good,
and keep to the paths of the just.
21 For the upright will dwell in the land,(D)
people of integrity will remain in it;
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land,
the faithless will be rooted out of it.
Footnotes
- 2:1–22
- 2:2–3
- 2:12–15
- 2:16–19
- 2:18
- 2:21–22
Cross references
- 2:6 : Jb 32:8; Wis 7:25; Sir 1:1; Jas 1:5.
- 2:16 : Prv 5:3, 20; 6:24; 7:5; 22:14.
- 2:18 : Prv 5:5; 7:27.
- 2:21 : Prv 10:7, 30; Jb 18:17; Ps 21:9–13; 37:22, 28.
