1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou make thine ear attend unto wisdom, and thy heart incline to discernment; 3 Yea, if thou call for understanding, and lift up thy voice for discernment; 4 If thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and discernment; 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright, He is a shield to them that walk in integrity; 8 That He may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of His godly ones. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, and equity, yea, every good path. 10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall watch over thee, discernment shall guard thee; 12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the men that speak froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil; 15 Who are crooked in their ways, and perverse in their paths; 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the alien woman that maketh smooth her words; 17 That forsaketh the lord of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18 For her house sinketh down unto death, and her paths unto the shades; 19 None that go unto her return, neither do they attain unto the paths of life; 20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the whole-hearted shall remain in it. 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the faithless shall be plucked up out of it.
Proverbs 2 JPS Tanakh (1917)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Numbers like (22-2) in the text give the Hebrew verse numbering where it differs.
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 3:1; Proverbs 1:3; Proverbs 4:1; John 12:47–48; Deuteronomy 6:6–9
- 2 Proverbs 23:12; Proverbs 18:1; Psalm 90:12; Matthew 13:9; Psalm 119:111–112
- 3 James 1:5; Ephesians 1:17–18; Proverbs 3:6; Psalm 25:4–5; 1 Kings 3:9–12
- 4 Matthew 13:44; Matthew 19:29; Proverbs 16:16; Job 3:21; Proverbs 8:18–19
- 5 Proverbs 1:7; Jeremiah 24:7; Luke 10:22; 1 John 5:20; Luke 11:9–13
- 6 Ephesians 1:17–18; James 1:5; Luke 21:15; Isaiah 54:13; Job 32:8
- 7 James 3:15–17; Proverbs 30:5; Psalm 84:11; 1 Corinthians 3:18–19; 2 Timothy 3:15–17
- 8 Psalm 23:3; 1 Samuel 2:9; John 10:28–29; Psalm 145:20; Psalm 66:9
- 9 Jeremiah 6:16; Matthew 7:13–14; Isaiah 48:17; Psalm 143:8–10; Proverbs 1:2–6
- 10 Jeremiah 15:16; Colossians 3:16; Job 23:12; Proverbs 24:13–14; Psalm 104:34
- 11 Proverbs 4:6; Ephesians 5:15; Psalm 25:21; Ecclesiastes 10:10; Psalm 119:9–11
- 12 1 Corinthians 15:33; Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 13:20; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Isaiah 59:3–5
- 13 John 3:19–20; Proverbs 4:19; 1 John 2:19; Proverbs 21:16; 2 Peter 2:20–22
- 14 Romans 1:32; Proverbs 10:23; Jeremiah 11:15; Luke 22:4–5; 1 Corinthians 13:6
- 15 Psalm 125:5; Proverbs 21:8; Philippians 2:15; Deuteronomy 32:5; Isaiah 59:8
- 16 Ecclesiastes 7:26; Proverbs 22:14; Proverbs 6:24; Proverbs 7:5–23; Proverbs 23:27
- 17 Ezekiel 16:59–60; Jeremiah 3:4; Ezekiel 16:8; Malachi 2:14–16; Proverbs 5:18
- 18 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; Proverbs 9:18; Galatians 5:19–21; Revelation 21:8; Ephesians 5:5
- 19 Ecclesiastes 7:26; Psalm 81:12; Hosea 4:14; Matthew 19:24–26; Hebrews 6:18
- 20 Hebrews 6:12; 3 John 11; Psalm 119:115; Psalm 119:63; Proverbs 13:20
- 21 Psalm 84:11; Psalm 37:29; Psalm 37:9; Proverbs 10:30; Job 42:12
- 22 Psalm 52:5; Deuteronomy 7:22; Isaiah 3:10–11; Psalm 37:28; Proverbs 10:30
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For in these very books on the study of which they are intent, they read, "The Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding;" and it is from Him they have received their very desire for knowledge, if it is wedded to piety.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)