My wife read this proverb to me first thing this morning and I feel it should be shared with everyone.
(For those who have said: The Bible is not appropriate or doesn’t apply to this modern age; if you have the slightest desire to lead a meaningful life and to understand what the Bible is really about; read this proverb all the way through and you will see that the insight and wisdom of Solomon still applies today.)
MY
SON, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you,
Making your ear attentive to skillful and godly Wisdom and inclining and
directing your heart and mind to understanding [applying all your powers to the
quest for it]; Yes, if you cry out for insight and
raise your voice for understanding, If you seek [Wisdom] as for silver and
search for skillful and godly Wisdom as for hidden treasures, Then you will
understand the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord and find the knowledge
of [our omniscient] God.
For the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom; from His mouth come
knowledge and understanding.
He hides away sound and godly Wisdom and stores it for the
righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him); He is a
shield to those who walk uprightly and in integrity, That He may guard the
paths of justice; yes, He preserves the way of His saints.
Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and fair dealing
[in every area and relation]; yes, you will understand every good path.
For skillful and godly Wisdom shall enter into your heart, and
knowledge shall be pleasant to you.
Discretion shall watch over you, understanding shall keep you, To
deliver you from the way of evil and the evil men, from men who speak perverse
things and are liars, Men who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the
ways of darkness, Who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of
evil, Who are crooked in their ways, wayward and devious in their paths.
[Discretion shall watch over you, understanding shall keep you] to
deliver you from the alien woman, from the outsider with her flattering words, Who
forsakes the husband and guide of her youth and forgets the covenant of her
God.
For her house sinks down to death and her paths to the spirits [of
the dead].
None who go to her return again, neither do they attain or regain
the paths of life.
So may you walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of
the [consistently] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God).
For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the men of integrity,
blameless and complete [in God's sight], shall remain in it; But the wicked
shall be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
Proverbs 2, Amplified Bible.
Because this scripture is old testament, I need to add: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but Jesus brought forgiveness for our sins so that any who repent and come to Him can gain eternal life through Him.
Because this scripture is old testament, I need to add: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but Jesus brought forgiveness for our sins so that any who repent and come to Him can gain eternal life through Him.
Blessings!