My son, if thou wilt receive my words,
And lay up my commandments with thee;
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom,
And apply thy heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou cry after discernment,
And lift up thy voice for understanding;
If thou seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hid treasures:
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah,
And find the knowledge of God.
For Jehovah giveth wisdom;
Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright;
{Or, And a shield for &c.}He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
{Or, That they may keep}That he may guard the paths of justice,
{Or, Yea he preserveth}And preserve the way of his saints.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice,
And equity, yea, every good path.
For wisdom shall enter into thy heart,
And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
Discretion shall watch over thee;
Understanding shall keep thee:
To deliver thee from the way of {Or, the evil man}evil,
From the men that speak perverse things;
Who forsake the paths of uprightness,
To walk in the ways of darkness;
Who rejoice to do evil,
And delight in the perverseness of {Or, the evil man}evil;
Who are crooked in their ways,
And wayward in their paths:
To deliver thee from the strange woman,
Even from the foreigner that {Hebrew: maketh smooth her words.}flattereth with her words;
That forsaketh the {Or, guide}friend of her youth,
And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
For {Or, she sinketh down unto death, which is her house}her house inclineth unto death,
And her paths unto {Or, the shades Hebrew: Rephaim.}the dead;
None that go unto her return again,
Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,
And keep the paths of the righteous.
For the upright shall dwell in the {Or, earth}land,
And the perfect shall remain in it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the {Or, earth}land,
And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 2,12 Spr 2,12
My son, if sinners entice thee,Consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us,Let us lay wait for blood;Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;
Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, {Or, Even the perfect}And whole, as those that go down into the pit;
We shall find all precious substance;We shall fill our houses with spoil;
{Or, Cast in thy lot}Thou shalt cast thy lot among us;We will all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them;Refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil,And they make haste to shed blood.
For in vain is the net spreadIn the sight of any bird:
And these lay wait for their own blood;They lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
For the perverse is an abomination to Jehovah;But his {Or, counsel}friendship is with the upright.
Enter not into the path of the wicked,And walk not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it;Turn from it, and pass on.
For they sleep not, except they do evil;And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness,And drink the wine of violence.
The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil:Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
{Or, Forsake the simple}Leave off, ye simple ones, and live;And walk in the way of understanding.
A perverse man scattereth abroad strife;And a whisperer {Or, alienateth his friend}separateth chief friends.
A man of violence enticeth his neighbor,And leadeth him in a way that is not good.
{Or, He that shutteth his eyes to devise perverse things, That compresseth his lips, bringeth &c.}He that shutteth his eyes, it is to devise perverse things:He that compresseth his lips bringeth evil to pass.
{According to another reading, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.}Walk with wise men, and thou shalt be wise;But the companion of fools shall {Hebrew: be broken.}smart for it.
A perverse heart shall depart from me:I will know no {Or, evil person}evil thing.
As for the works of men, by the word of thy lipsI have kept me from the ways of the violent.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue muttereth wickedness.
None {Hebrew: called.}sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
They hatch adders' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
My steps have held fast to thy paths,My feet have not slipped.
and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
I have not sat with men of falsehood;Neither will I go in with dissemblers.
Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals.
I hate the assembly of evil-doers,And will not sit with the wicked.
Incline not my heart to any evil thing,To practise deeds of wickednessWith men that work iniquity:And let me not eat of their dainties.
Wherefore {Isaiah 52:11.}Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate,saith the Lord,And touch no unclean thing;And I will receive you,