Proverbs 2

¹My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

³and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.

¹Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

⁴⁷As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

⁶These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

¹My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

¹He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.

¹²So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

⁹He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹¹¹Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

¹¹²I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes, even to the very end.

¹⁷Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise—apply your mind to my knowledge—

¹⁸for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips.

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

¹⁸I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

⁶in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

⁴Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.

⁵Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

⁹Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

¹⁰Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request.

¹⁶⁹May my cry come before You, O Lord; give me understanding according to Your word.

⁴⁴The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field.

²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

¹⁶How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

²¹who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,

¹⁸With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, pure gold, and my harvest surpasses choice silver.

¹²But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell?

¹³No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

⁷I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

²²All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

⁹So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁴⁰I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

⁴¹Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

¹⁸I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

¹⁵For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

¹³Then all your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their prosperity.

⁸But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

⁹⁸Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.

¹⁵Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.

⁵Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

¹⁵From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

¹⁹For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

³He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

⁹He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.

²⁹My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

²⁰The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.

⁹He preserves our lives and keeps our feet from slipping.

²³The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord who takes delight in his journey.

²⁴Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the Lord is holding his hand.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

¹³Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁷Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.

⁸Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord; I flee to You for refuge.

²for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight,

³and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.

⁶Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O Lord God of Hosts.

¹⁶Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

¹²I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, there is a future for you, and your hope will never be cut off.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

¹⁰They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

⁶Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

¹⁵Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

²¹May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.

¹⁰If the axe is dull and the blade unsharpened, more strength must be exerted, but skill produces success.

⁹How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

¹⁰With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

²²When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

²³For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

¹³To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

¹⁷“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

³For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.

⁴No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

¹¹If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

¹⁹And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.

¹⁶The man who strays from the path of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

²⁰If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.

²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

³²Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

²³The fool delights in shameful conduct, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

¹⁵What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked, then you rejoice.

⁴And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them.

⁵They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

⁶Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

³They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.

⁵But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

⁸The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world

⁵His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the blemish on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.

⁸The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.

⁸Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.

⁹These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s instruction.

²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the Lord will fall into it.

²⁴to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

⁵that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.

⁶For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.

²⁶Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

²⁷Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

⁵⁹For this is what the Lord God says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

⁶⁰But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

⁴Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

⁸Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord God.

¹⁴Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

¹⁵Has not the Lord made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

¹⁸May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

¹⁸But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

²⁰idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,

⁸But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁴in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.

²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

¹²So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

¹⁸Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.

¹²Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

¹¹Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

¹¹⁵Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may obey the commandments of my God.

⁶³I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

²⁹The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.

⁹For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

³⁰The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not inhabit the land.

¹²So the Lord blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

³Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

²²The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.

¹⁰Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

¹¹Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

²⁸For the Lord loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

³⁰The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not inhabit the land.

²⁰The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.