Mishle 2

Orthodox Jewish Bible

2 Beni (my son), if thou wilt receive my words, and treasure my mitzvot with thee;

² So that thou incline thine ear unto chochmah, and apply thine lev to tevunah (understanding);

³ Yea, if thou criest out after binah, and liftest up thy voice for tevunah (understanding)

⁴ If thou seekest her as kesef, and searchest for her as for matmonim (hidden treasures);

⁵ Then shalt thou understand the Yirat Hashem, and find the Da’as Elohim.

⁶ For Hashem giveth chochmah; out of His Peh (mouth) cometh da’as (knowledge) and tevunah (understanding).

⁷ He layeth up tushiyyah (wise Torah counsel) for the yesharim (upright ones); He is a mogen (shield) to them that walk in blamelessness.

⁸ He keepeth the orkhot mishpat, and is shomer over the derech of His Chasidim.

⁹ Then shalt thou understand tzedek, and mishpat, and mesharim (equity, fairness)‖every ma’agal tov (good path).

¹⁰ When chochmah entereth into thine lev, and da’as (knowledge) is pleasant unto thy nefesh;

¹¹ Mezimah (discretion) shall be shomer over thee, tevunah (understanding) shall safeguard thee;

¹² To save thee from the derech rah, from the ish medaber tahpukhot (man speaking perverse things);

¹³ Who leaving the orkhot yosher (paths of uprightness), walk in the drakhei choshech (ways of darkness);

¹⁴ Who rejoice to do rah, and delight in the tahpukhot (perverse things) of rah (evil);

¹⁵ Whose orkhot (paths) are crooked ones, and they are devious in their ma’agalot (paths);

¹⁶ To save thee from the isha zarah (strange woman), even from the nokhriyah (strange [immoral] woman) which useth smooth words;

¹⁷ Which forsaketh the alluf (companion, husband) of her youth, and forgetteth the brit (covenant) of her G-d.

¹⁸ For her bais inclineth toward mavet, and her ma’agalot (paths) to the refa’im (spirits of the dead).

¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither attain they to the orkhot chayyim (paths of life).

²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the derech tovim, and be shomer over the orkhot tzaddikim (paths of the righteous).

²¹ For the yesharim (upright ones) shall dwell in the land, and the tamimim (blameless, faultless ones) shall remain in it.

²² But the resha’im shall be cut off from ha’aretz, and the bogedim (treacherous ones) shall be rooted out of it.