Proverbs · Literal Standard Version
Proverbs 2 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 My son, if you accept my sayings, || And lay up my commands with you,
1 My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you,
2 To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, || You incline your heart to understanding,
2 so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
3 For if you call for intelligence, || [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,
3 yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver, || And search for her as hid treasures,
4 if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you understand the fear of YHWH, || And you find the knowledge of God.
5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For YHWH gives wisdom, || Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.
6 For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 Even to lay up substance for the upright, || A shield for those walking uprightly.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 To keep the paths of judgment, || And He preserves the way of His saints.
8 that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.
9 Then you understand righteousness, || And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.
10 For wisdom comes into your heart, || And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
10 For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Thoughtfulness watches over you, || Understanding keeps you,
11 Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,
12 To deliver you from an evil way, || From any speaking contrary things,
12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things,
13 Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, || To walk in ways of darkness,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 Who are rejoicing to do evil, || They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,
14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 Whose paths [are] crooked, || Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.
15 who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, || From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,
16 to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,
17 Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, || And has forgotten the covenant of her God.
17 who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 For her house has inclined to death, || And her paths to Rephaim.
18 for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.
19 None going in to her return, || Nor do they reach the paths of life.
19 None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.
20 That you go in the way of the good, || And keep the paths of the righteous.
20 Therefore walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright inhabit the earth, || And the perfect are left in it,
21 For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.
22 And the wicked are cut off from the earth, || And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
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)