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Rewards of Wisdom

My child, listen to what I say
    and remember what I command you.
Listen carefully to wisdom;
    set your mind on understanding.
Cry out for wisdom,
    and beg for understanding.
Search for it like silver,
    and hunt for it like hidden treasure.
Then you will understand respect for the Lord,
    and you will find that you know God.
Only the Lord gives wisdom;
    he gives knowledge and understanding.
He stores up wisdom for those who are honest.
    Like a shield he protects the innocent.
He makes sure that justice is done,
    and he protects those who are loyal to him.

Then you will understand what is honest and fair
    and what is the good and right thing to do.
10 Wisdom will come into your mind,
    and knowledge will be pleasing to you.
11 Good sense will protect you;
    understanding will guard you.
12 It will keep you from the wicked,
    from those whose words are bad,
13 who don’t do what is right
    but what is evil.
14 They enjoy doing wrong
    and are happy to do what is crooked and evil.
15 What they do is wrong,
    and their ways are dishonest.

16 It will save you from the unfaithful wife
    who tries to lead you into adultery with pleasing words.
17 She leaves the husband she married when she was young.
    She ignores the promise she made before God.
18 Her house is on the way to death;
    those who took that path are now all dead.
19 No one who goes to her comes back
    or walks the path of life again.

20 But wisdom will help you be good
    and do what is right.
21 Those who are honest will live in the land,
    and those who are innocent will remain in it.
22 But the wicked will be removed from the land,
    and the unfaithful will be thrown out of it.

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

My son,(A) if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding(B)
indeed, if you call out for insight(C)
    and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,(D)
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.(E)
For the Lord gives wisdom;(F)
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.(G)
He holds success in store for the upright,
    he is a shield(H) to those whose walk is blameless,(I)
for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful ones.(J)

Then you will understand(K) what is right and just
    and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,(L)
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.(M)

12 Wisdom will save(N) you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways,(O)
14 who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,(P)
15 whose paths are crooked(Q)
    and who are devious in their ways.(R)

16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,(S)
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a](T)
18 Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.(U)
19 None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.(V)

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,(W)
    and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked(X) will be cut off from the land,(Y)
    and the unfaithful will be torn from it.(Z)

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God