Proverbs 2

My son, if you will take in what I say, and store up my commands inside you,

1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

Note"My son" is how a teacher addresses a student in this kind of ancient instruction writing; it does not necessarily mean the hearer is the speaker's own child. Verses 1–4 are one long "if," and verse 5 is the "then" that completes it.

2if you listen closely to wisdom and turn your heart toward understanding,

2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

Note"Heart" in Hebrew usage means the mind and will (where a person thinks, decides and commits), rather than the seat of feelings it suggests in modern English.

3yes, if you call out for insight and lift up your voice for understanding,

3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4if you look for wisdom the way you would look for silver, and hunt for her the way you would hunt for hidden treasure,

4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

NoteSilver was money; wisdom is being compared to the thing people worked hardest to get. "Hidden treasure" is literal: with no banks, valuables were buried in the ground, and searching for buried caches was a real activity, not a figure of speech. Wisdom is called "her" because throughout Proverbs wisdom is spoken of as a woman.

5then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will find the knowledge of God.

5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Note"The fear of the LORD" is a standing Hebrew phrase for reverence toward God that shapes how a person lives, awe and serious regard, not terror. Where the King James prints LORD in small capitals, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud.

6For the LORD is the one who gives wisdom. Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth.

6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7He stores up sound wisdom for those who do what is right. He is a shield to those who live honestly.

7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

Note"Sound wisdom" translates a difficult Hebrew word that covers practical competence, resourcefulness and the success such skill produces. A "buckler" is a small shield carried on the arm.

8He guards the paths of justice and protects the way of those who belong to him.

8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

Note"Saints" here does not mean canonized holy people. The Hebrew word means those bound to God by loyal, faithful commitment, the same word family as the covenant loyalty God shows them.

9Then you will understand what is right, what is just, and what is fair, every good path.

9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

NoteIn the King James, "judgment" usually means justice, right rulings and fair dealing, not the act of condemning someone. "Equity" means fairness or straight dealing.

10For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be a delight to you.

10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11Good judgment will watch over you, and understanding will guard you.

11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12They will rescue you from the way of the evil man, from the man whose words are twisted,

12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

Note"Froward" is an obsolete English word meaning perverse, twisted or turned the wrong way. It appears again in verses 14 and 15.

13from those who leave the straight paths in order to walk in dark ways,

13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14from those who are glad to do evil and take pleasure in the twisted ways of wicked people,

14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15whose paths are crooked and who turn aside from what is right wherever they go.

15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

16Wisdom will also rescue you from the woman you must not go near, from the stranger whose words are smooth and flattering,

16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Note"Strange woman" and "stranger" do not mean a foreigner. The two Hebrew words mean a woman outside the bounds, someone else's wife, or a woman a man has no right to. Verse 17 confirms she is married.

17who has walked away from the husband she married in her youth, and has forgotten the covenant of her God.

17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

Note"The guide of her youth" is the husband she married when young. The "covenant of her God" is most likely the marriage agreement, sworn with God as witness; some read it instead as her covenant obligation to God more broadly, and the Hebrew allows both.

18For her house sinks down toward death, and her paths lead to the dead.

18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

NoteThe word behind "the dead" is *rephaim*, the shades of the dead who were thought to exist as weakened, shadowy figures in the underworld. "Her house inclineth unto death" pictures the ground itself sloping downward toward that place.

19No one who goes to her comes back again, and they never reach the paths of life.

19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20So you will walk in the way of good people, and keep to the paths of those who do what is right.

20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21For honest people will live in the land, and those who are blameless will remain in it.

21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

Note"The land" is the territory of Israel, held as a family inheritance passed down through generations. To live in it securely, and to be "cut off" or "rooted out" of it, was concrete language about keeping or losing your family's land and standing. "Perfect" in the King James means whole, blameless or of one piece, not flawless.

22But the wicked will be cut off from the land, and those who break faith will be pulled up by the roots.

22But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

NoteThe King James prints "earth" here and "the land" in verse 21, but the Hebrew word is the same in both lines; it means the land of Israel. "Transgressors" translates a word for those who act treacherously, who break faith with the people they are bound to.