The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 2
Biblical Period
1My son, if you accept my words
And treasure up my commandments;
2If you make your ear attentive to wisdom
And your mind open to discernment;
3If you call to understanding
And cry aloud to discernment,
4If you seek it as you do silver
And search for it as for treasures,
5Then you will understand the fear of the Lord
And attain knowledge of God.
6For the Lord grants wisdom;
Knowledge and discernment are by His decree.
7He reserves ability for the upright
And is a shield for those who live blamelessly,
8Guarding the paths of justice,
Protecting the way of those loyal to Him.
9You will then understand what is right, just,
And equitable—every good course.
10For wisdom will enter your mind
And knowledge will delight you.
11Foresight will protect you,
And discernment will guard you.
12It will save you from the way of evil men,
From men who speak duplicity,
13Who leave the paths of rectitude
To follow the ways of darkness,
14Who rejoice in doing evil
And exult in the duplicity of evil men,
15Men whose paths are crooked
And who are devious in their course.
16It will save you from the forbidden woman,
From the alien woman whose talk is smooth,
17Who forsakes the companion of her youth
And disregards the covenant of her God.
18Her house sinks down to Death,
And her course leads to the shades.
19All who go to her cannot return
And find again the paths of life.
20So follow the way of the good
And keep to the paths of the just.
21For the upright will inhabit the earth,
The blameless will remain in it.
22While the wicked will vanish from the land
And the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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