Proverbs 2

Proverbs 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

 ¹ My son, if you accept my words
       and store up my commands within you,

 ² turning your ear to wisdom
       and applying your heart to understanding,

 ³ and if you call out for insight
       and cry aloud for understanding,

 ⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
       and search for it as for hidden treasure,

 ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD
       and find the knowledge of God.

 ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom,
       and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

 ⁷ He holds victory in store for the upright,
       he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

 ⁸ for he guards the course of the just
       and protects the way of his faithful ones.

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

 ¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
       and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

 ¹¹ Discretion will protect you,
       and understanding will guard you.

 ¹² Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
       from men whose words are perverse,

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

 ¹⁴ who delight in doing wrong
       and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

 ¹⁵ whose paths are crooked
       and who are devious in their ways.

 ¹⁶ It will save you also from the adulteress,
       from the wayward wife with her seductive words,

 ¹⁷ who has left the partner of her youth
       and ignored the covenant she made before God. ^[a]

 ¹⁸ For her house leads down to death
       and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

 ¹⁹ None who go to her return
       or attain the paths of life.

 ²⁰ Thus you will walk in the ways of good men
       and keep to the paths of the righteous.

 ²¹ For the upright will live in the land,
       and the blameless will remain in it;

 ²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
       and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

From:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+2&version=NIV