Proverbs2
New Living Translation
1My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.
2Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.
3Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
4Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
5Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.
6For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
8He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.
9Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.
10For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.
11Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.
12Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.
13These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths.
14They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.
15Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong.
16Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.
17She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God.
18Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave.
19The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life.
20So follow the steps of the good, and stay on the paths of the righteous.
21For only the godly will live in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it.
22But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Proverbs 2.
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?
Key Words
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אִם: used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrogative, whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
אֵמֶר: something said
צָפַן: to hide (by covering over); by implication, to hoard or reserve; figuratively to deny; specifically (favorably) to protect, (unfavorably) to lurk
מִצְוָה: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)
אֹזֶן: broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in man)
קָשַׁב: to prick up the ears, i.e. hearken
חׇכְמָה: wisdom (in a good sense)
נָטָה: to stretch or spread out; by implication, to bend away (including moral deflection); used in a great variety of application
Cross References
Proverbs 2Parallels the command to 'hide' or 'lay up' wisdom's commandments in store.
Supported by JFB
Confirms God is the source and giver of wisdom to those who ask Him in prayer.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Echoes how the Lord preserves the way of His saints and forsakes them not.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct parallel linking the preservation of sound wisdom and discretion.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the wicked delighting not only in doing evil but in others' crooked ways.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identifies the 'guide of her youth' specifically as the husband or covenant partner.
Supported by JFB
Illuminates hiding God's word in the heart to prevent sinning against Him.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Affirms that ultimate wisdom, strength, counsel, and understanding belong to God.
Supported by JFB
Contrasts the paths of the dead with the 'paths of life' found in God's presence.
Supported by JFB
Matches the promise that the righteous/upright shall inherit and dwell in the land.
Supported by JFB