Proverbs 2NASB
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Proverbs2

New American Standard

1My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

2Make your ear attentive to wisdom; Incline your heart to understanding.

3For if you cry out for insight, And raise your voice for understanding;

4If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures;

5Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And discover the knowledge of God.

6For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

8Guarding the paths of justice, And He watches over the way of His godly ones.

9Then you will discern righteousness, justice, And integrity, and every good path.

10For wisdom will enter your heart, And knowledge will be delightful to your soul;

11Discretion will watch over you, Understanding will guard you,

12To rescue you from the way of evil, From a person who speaks perverse things;

13From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

14Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil;

15Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways;

16To rescue you from the strange woman, From the foreign woman who flatters with her words,

17Who leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God;

18For her house sinks down to death, And her tracks lead to the dead;

19None who go to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.

20So you will walk in the way of good people And keep to the paths of the righteous.

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

22But the wicked will be eliminated from the land, And the treacherous will be torn away from it.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Proverbs 2.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: Promises to those who seek wisdom. (1–9). The advantages of wisdom. (10–22).

vv1-9

Those who earnestly seek heavenly wisdom, will never complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of the gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, Joh 6:27 Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and it shall be given them. Observe who are thus favoured. They are the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which consists in righteousness. If we depend upon God, and seek to him for wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of judgment.

vv10-22

If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin. Many think that this caution, besides the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?

Cross References

Proverbs 2
v1Proverbs 7:1thematic

Parallels the command to 'hide' or 'lay up' wisdom's commandments in store.

Supported by JFB

v6James 1:5thematic

Confirms God is the source and giver of wisdom to those who ask Him in prayer.

Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB

v8Psalms 37:28thematic

Echoes how the Lord preserves the way of His saints and forsakes them not.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v7Proverbs 3:21thematic

Direct parallel linking the preservation of sound wisdom and discretion.

Supported by JFB

v14Romans 1:32thematic

Parallels the wicked delighting not only in doing evil but in others' crooked ways.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v17Jeremiah 3:4allusion

Identifies the 'guide of her youth' specifically as the husband or covenant partner.

Supported by JFB

v1Psalms 119:11thematic

Illuminates hiding God's word in the heart to prevent sinning against Him.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v6Job 12:13thematic

Affirms that ultimate wisdom, strength, counsel, and understanding belong to God.

Supported by JFB

v19Psalms 16:11contrast

Contrasts the paths of the dead with the 'paths of life' found in God's presence.

Supported by JFB

v21Psalms 37:3thematic

Matches the promise that the righteous/upright shall inherit and dwell in the land.

Supported by JFB