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Proverbs 2

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The Call to Diligently Seek Wisdom 1–4

1
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee; ​
2
So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;
3
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;
4
If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures: ​

The Source and Reward of Wisdom 5–11

5
Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God. ​
6
For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding: ​
7
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; He isa shield to them that walk in integrity; ​
8
That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.
9
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, yea, every good path.
10
For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul; ​
11
Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:

Wisdom Protects from Evil Men 12–15

12
To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things; ​
13
Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
14
Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil; ​
15
Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:

Wisdom Protects from the Adulteress 16–19

16
To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words; ​
17
That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God: ​
18
For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead; ​
19
None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

The Final Outcome of the Two Paths 20–22

20
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
21
For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it. ​
22
But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Proverbs 2

Verse 1

receive my words, and hide my commandments — 'Hide' is tsaphan, to store away as treasure, the verb of Ps 119:11, 'Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.' Vv.1–4 are one long 'if' (receive, hide, incline, cry, seek); the 'then' comes at v.5.

Verse 4

as silver, and … as for hid treasures — 'Hid treasures' is matmon, wealth buried for safekeeping; it occurs only five times, among them Job 3:21, where men dig for death 'more than for hid treasures'. 'Searchest' is chaphas, to search out; wisdom is to be sought with a miner's persistence.

Verse 5

the fear of the LORD — This is the 'then' of the long condition in vv.1–4. 'Fear' (yirah) is where the pursuit lands, having begun there: 'The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge' (Prov 1:7), 'of wisdom' (Prov 9:10). What the seeker finds is 'the knowledge of God' (daath Elohim).

Verse 6

the LORD giveth wisdom — The verb nathan, 'give', is the same as in v.3, where the son 'liftest up' (literally, gives) his voice: he gives his cry, and the LORD gives wisdom. Solomon asked for it (1 Kings 3:9), and the promise stands for all: 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God' (James 1:5).

Verse 7

sound wisdom — Tushiyyah, help or ability, a word found in Proverbs only here and at 3:21; 8:14; 18:1. 'Layeth up' is tsaphan, the verb of 'hide' in v.1: what the son stores, the LORD has already stored. He is 'a buckler' (magen), a shield, as in 'I am thy shield' (Gen 15:1).

Verse 10

entereth into thine heart — This is the 'when' that follows the seeking: wisdom itself comes in, and knowledge is naem, pleasant, to the nephesh, the soul, the whole living person. It is the inward side of v.1, where the commandments were hid 'with thee'.

Verse 12

froward things — Tahpukah, from the verb to turn over: speech turned upside down. It is the 'froward mouth' the LORD hates (Prov 8:13) and the 'frowardness' devised in the heart (Prov 6:14). Vv.12–15 describe the men of 'the way of the evil man'; 'evil communications corrupt good manners' (1 Cor 15:33).

Verse 14

rejoice to do evil — 'Rejoice' is sameach, glad; 'delight' is gil, literally to spin round for joy, the verb of 'we will rejoice and be glad in it' (Ps 118:24). Here the gladness is turned to 'the frowardness of the wicked'. It is the opposite of charity, which 'rejoiceth not in iniquity' (1 Cor 13:6).

Verse 16

the strange woman — The participle of zur, to turn aside; 'the stranger' (nokriyah) is the foreign woman. Her flattery is chalaq, smoothness, the mouth 'smoother than oil' of Prov 5:3. The same warning is given, in these same words, in Prov 7:5.

Verse 17

the guide of her youth — Alluph, a familiar friend or chief, used in Jer 3:4 of the LORD himself, 'thou art the guide of my youth'. The 'covenant of her God' is the marriage she breaks: Mal 2:14 calls 'the wife of thy youth' 'the wife of thy covenant', with the LORD as witness.

Verse 18

inclineth unto death — Shuach, to sink down; her house is a descent. 'The dead' is rephaim, the shades below, as in Prov 9:18, 'the dead are there; and … her guests are in the depths of hell', and Prov 21:16, 'the congregation of the dead'. v.19 adds that none who go in return.

Verse 21

the upright shall dwell in the land — The 'land' (erets) is the promised inheritance, and the word is the 'earth' of v.22: the upright 'dwell' and 'remain', the wicked are 'cut off'. So Ps 37:29, 'The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever', and Christ's 'the meek … shall inherit the earth' (Matt 5:5).