Proverbs 2
2
Make Insight Your Priority
1-5Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom;
set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,
and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;
you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
6-8And here’s why: God gives out Wisdom free,
is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.
He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well,
a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
He keeps his eye on all who live honestly,
and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
9-15So now you can pick out what’s true and fair,
find all the good trails!
Lady Wisdom will be your close friend,
and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
Good Sense will scout ahead for danger,
Insight will keep an eye out for you.
They’ll keep you from making wrong turns,
or following the bad directions
Of those who are lost themselves
and can’t tell a trail from a tumbleweed,
These losers who make a game of evil
and throw parties to celebrate perversity,
Traveling paths that go nowhere,
wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
16-19Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress—
that smooth-talking Seductress
Who’s faithless to the husband she married years ago,
never gave a second thought to her promises before God.
Her whole way of life is doomed;
every step she takes brings her closer to hell.
No one who joins her company ever comes back,
ever sets foot on the path to real living.
20-22So—join the company of good men and women,
keep your feet on the tried-and-true paths.
It’s the men who walk straight who will settle this land,
the women with integrity who will last here.
The corrupt will lose their lives;
the dishonest will be gone for good.
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Proverbs 2: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Proverbs 2
2
The Benefit of Wisdom
1My son,
if you take my words ⌞to heart⌟
and treasure my commands within you,
2if you pay close attention to wisdom,
and let your mind reach for understanding,
3if indeed you call out for insight,
if you ask aloud for understanding,
4if you search for wisdom as if it were money
and hunt for it as if it were hidden treasure,
5then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and you will find the knowledge of God.
6The Lord gives wisdom.
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7He has reserved priceless wisdom for decent people.
He is a shield for those who walk in integrity
8in order to guard those on paths of justice
and to watch over the way of his godly ones.
9Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—
every good course ⌞in life⌟.
10Wisdom will come into your heart.
Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11Foresight will protect you.
Understanding will guard you.
12 ⌞Wisdom will⌟ save you
from the way of evil,
from the person who speaks devious things,
13from those who abandon the paths of righteousness
to walk the ways of darkness,
14from those who enjoy doing evil,
from those who find joy in the deviousness of evil.
15Their paths are crooked.
Their ways are devious.
16 ⌞Wisdom will⌟ also save you
from an adulterous woman,
from a loose woman with her smooth talk,
17who leaves ⌞her husband,⌟ the closest friend of her youth,
and forgets her marriage vows to her God.
18Her house sinks down to death.
Her ways lead to the souls of the dead.
19None who have sex with her come back.
Nor do they ever reach the paths of life.
20So walk in the way of good people
and stay on the paths of righteous people.
21Decent people will live in the land.
People of integrity will remain in it.
22But wicked people will be cut off from the land
and treacherous people will be torn #2:22 Or “will be swept away.” from it.
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