Proverbs 2

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 My child, if you take my words to heart, if you set store by my commandments,	1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my commandments with thee,
2 tuning your ear to wisdom, tuning your heart to understanding,	2 That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: Incline thy heart to know prudence:
3 yes, if your plea is for clear perception, if you cry out for understanding,	3 For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to prudence:
4 if you look for it as though for silver, search for it as though for buried treasure,	4 If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure:
5 then you wil understand what the fear of Yahweh is, and discover the knowledge of God.	5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God.
6 For Yahweh himself is giver of wisdom, from his mouth issue knowledge and understanding.	6 Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge.
7 He reserves his advice for the honest, a shield to those whose ways are sound;	7 He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity.
8 he stands guard over the paths of equity, he keeps watch over the way of those faithful to him.	8 Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.
9 Then you wil understand uprightness, equity and fair dealing, the paths that lead to happiness.	9 Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and every good path.
10 When wisdom comes into your heart and knowledge fil s your soul with delight,	10 If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy soul:
11 then prudence wil be there to watch over you, and understanding wil be your guardian	11 Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,
12 to keep you from the way that is evil, from those whose speech is deceitful,	12 That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man that speaketh perverse things:
13 from those who leave the paths of honesty to walk the roads of darkness:	13 Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:
14 those who find their joy in doing wrong, and their delight in deceitfulness,	14 Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things:
15 whose tracks are twisted, and the paths that they tread crooked.	15 Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.
16 To keep you, too, from the woman who belongs to another, from the stranger, with her wheedlingwords;	16 That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words:
17 she has left the partner of her younger days, she has forgotten the covenant of her God;	17 And forsaketh the guide of her youth,
18 her house is tilting towards Death, down to the Shades go her paths.	18 And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.
19 Of those who go to her not one returns, they never regain the paths of life.	19 None that go in unto her shall return again, neither shall they take hold of the paths of life,
20 Thus you wil tread the way of good people, persisting in the paths of the upright.	20 That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of the just.
21 For the land will be for the honest to live in, the innocent will have it for their home;	21 For they that are upright shall dwell in the earth, and the simple shall continue in it.
22 while the wicked wil be cut off from the land, and the faithless rooted out of it.	22 But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.