The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Proverbs
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Chapter 2
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1
Here, then, my son, is counsel for thee; take this bidding of mine to heart;
2
ever be thy ear attentive to wisdom, thy mind eager to attain discernment.
3
Wisdom if thou wilt call to thy side, and make discernment welcome,
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as thou wouldst fain hoard riches, or bring hidden treasure to light,
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then thou wilt learn what it is to fear God, make trial of what it is to know God.
6
Wisdom is the Lord’s gift; only by his word spoken comes true knowledge, true discernment.
7
So it is that he watches over the lives of the upright, bids the innocent walk unharmed;
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safe and sound the chosen friends of God come and go.
9
Duty and right and honour thou shalt discern, and see ever where the best course lies,
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if once wisdom finds a lodgement in thy heart, if knowledge once casts her spell upon thee.
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Watch and ward right counsel shall keep over thee;
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it shall save thee from the wrong choice, save thee from the false counsellor.
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False counsellors there are, that leave the high road to walk by dark alleys;
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for sin and shame is all their love and liking;
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ill guides on a wrong path all of them!
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And from her, too, right counsel shall protect thee, the woman that is no daughter of Israel, with her mincing foreign ways,
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that has forsaken the love of her youth,
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forgotten the troth once plighted to her God. The house she dwells in is death’s antechamber, the road by which she beckons leads to the grave;
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never man went in there that came back and set his face towards life.✻
20
Thine to choose a nobler course, keeping ever the path of duty;
21
the upright, the innocent, shall have lands of their own and long enjoy them;
22
the godless, the wrong-doer will be lost for ever to the scenes they knew.
