Wisdom promises godliness to her children, 1-9; and safety from evil company, 10-19; and direction in good ways, 20-22.
1 My son, if you will receive my words/
and hide my commandments with you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom/
and apply your heart to understanding,
3 If you even cry after knowledge/
and lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver/
and search for her as for hidden treasures,
5 Then you shall understand the fear of the LORD/
and find the knowledge of God,
6 For the LORD gives wisdom./
Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous./
He is a buckler to those who walk uprightly.
8 He keeps the paths of judgment/
and preserves the way of his saints.
9 Then you shall understand righteousness, judgment,/
equity, and every good path.
10 When wisdom enters into your heart/
and knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
11 Discretion shall preserve you,/
understanding shall keep you,
12 To deliver you from the way of the evil men,/
from the men who speak perverse things,
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness/
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 Who rejoice to do evil/
and delight in the perverseness of the wicked,
15 Whose ways are crooked,/
and who are perverse in their paths;
16 To deliver you from the strange woman,/
even from the stranger who flatters with her words,
17 Who forsakes the guide of her youth/
and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclines to death/
and her paths to the dead.
19 None who go to her return again,/
neither do they take hold of the paths of life.
20 So you shall 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 earth/
and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Proverbs, Chapter 2[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
This chapter directs to the means of attaining to the knowledge of divine things and shows the profit and advantage arising from there. The means are, embracing the doctrines of the Gospel and retaining in memory and affection the ordinances of it (Proverbs 2:1); and an inclination of the ear and an application of the heart to the knowledge of these things (Proverbs 2:2). An earnest and importunate desire, expressed by prayer, after the same (Proverbs 2:3); and a diligent and unwearied search for them, as for silver and hid treasure (Proverbs 2:4). The advantages are, that such shall attain to the fear and knowledge of God, which may be concluded from these being the gift of God to his people, and from their being laid up for them, whom he carefully keeps and preserves (Proverbs 2:5-8); and not only so, but such learn to do that which is just and right among men (Proverbs 2:9). And, besides, such is the nature of divine wisdom, that, when it has once got a place in the heart and in the affections, it will be a means of preserving both from the ways of evil men (Proverbs 2:10-12); who are described (Proverbs 2:13-15). And from the evil woman, whose character is given (Proverbs 2:16-17); whose vicious course of life and the ways she leads persons into are represented as very dangerous (Proverbs 2:18-19). And, on the contrary, such is the usefulness of true wisdom, that it leads into the way of good men, who will be happy and safe when the wicked are destroyed (Proverbs 2:20-22).
[v.1] - Reference, Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Job 23:12; Psalm 119:9-11; Proverbs 3:1, 4:1, 20-22, 6:20-21, 7:1; Matthew 13:44; Luke 2:17-19, 49-51, 9:44; John 12:47-48; 1st Timothy 1:15.
[v.2] - Reference, Psalm 90:12, 119:111-112; Proverbs 18:1, 22:17-21, 23:12; Ecclesiastes 7:25, 8:9, 16; Isaiah 55:3; Matthew 13:9; Acts 17:11.
[v.3] - Reference, 1st Kings 3:9-12; 1st Chronicles 22:12; Psalm 25:4-5, 119:34, 73, 125, 169; Luke 11:13; Ephesians 1:17-18; James 1:5.
[v.4] - Reference, Job 28:12-20; Psalm 19:10, 119:14, 72, 127; Proverbs 3:14-15, 8:18-19, 16:16, 23:23; Matthew 6:19-21, 13:44, 19:21, 29.
[v.5] - Reference, 1st Kings 3:9-14; 2nd Chronicles 1:10-12; Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, 15:33; Jeremiah 9:24, 24:7, 31:34, 32:40; Hosea 6:3; Matthew 7:7-11, 11:27; Luke 10:22, 11:9-13; John 17:3; 1st John 5:20.
[v.6] - Reference, Exodus 31:3; 1st Kings 3:9, 12, 4:29; 1st Chronicles 22:12; 2nd Chronicles 1:10-12; Job 32:8; Psalm 19:7, 119:98, 104; Proverbs 6:23, 8:5-10; Isaiah 54:13; Daniel 1:17, 2:21-23; Luke 21:15; John 6:45; Ephesians 1:17-18; James 1:5, 17.
[v.7] - Reference, 2nd Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2, 84:11, 115:9-11, 144:2; Proverbs 8:14, 28:18, 30:5; 1st Corinthians 1:24, 30, 2:6-8, 3:18-19; Colossians 2:2-3; 2nd Timothy 3:15-17; James 3:17-18.
[v.8] - Reference, Deuteronomy 33:3, 26-29; 1st Samuel 2:9; Psalm 1:6, 3:21-24, 23:3, 37:23-24, 28, 31, 66:8-9, 121:5-8, 145:20; Proverbs 8:20; Isaiah 35:8-9, 49:8-10; Jeremiah 32:40-41; John 10:28-29; 1st Peter 1:5; Jude 1:24.
[v.9] - Reference, Psalm 25:8-9, 32:8, 119:99, 105, 143:8-10; Proverbs 1:2-6; Isaiah 48:17; Matthew 7:13-14; John 14:6.
[v.10] - Reference, Job 23:12; Psalm 19:10, 104:34, 119:97, 103, 111, 162; Proverbs 18:1-2, 24:13-14; Jeremiah 15:16; Colossians 3:16.
[v.11] - Reference, Psalm 25:21, 119:9-11; Proverbs 4:6, 6:22-24; Ecclesiastes 9:15-18, 10:10; Ephesians 5:15.
[v.12] - Reference, Psalm 17:4-5, 26:4-5, 101:4, 141:4; Proverbs 1:10-19, 3:32, 4:14-17, 8:13, 9:6, 13:20, 16:28-30; Isaiah 59:3-5; Acts 20:30; 1st Corinthians 15:33-34; 2nd Corinthians 6:17.
[v.13] - Reference, Job 24:13-16; Psalm 13:3, 36:3; Proverbs 4:19, 21:16; Ezekiel 18:26, 33:12-13; Zephaniah 1:4-6; Matthew 12:43-45; John 3:19-29, 12:35; Romans 1:21; 1st Thessalonians 5:5-7; 2nd Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 6:4-6; 2nd Peter 2:20-22; 1st John 1:6, 2:9-11, 19.
[v.14] - Reference, Proverbs 10:23; Jeremiah 11:15; Hosea 7:3; Habakkuk 1:15-16; Zephaniah 3:11; Luke 22:4-5; Romans 1:32; 1st Corinthians 13:6.
[v.15] - Reference, Deuteronomy 32:5; Psalm 25:5; Isaiah 30:8-13, 59:8; Philippians 2:15.
[v.16] - Reference, Genesis 39:3-12; Nehemiah 13:26-27; Proverbs ch. 5, 6:23-24, ch. 7, 22:14, 23:27, 29:5; Ecclesiastes 7:26.
[v.17] - Reference, Jeremiah 3:4; Ezekiel 16:59-60; Malachi 2:14-16.
[v.18] - Reference, Proverbs 5:4-14, 6:26-35, ch. 7, 9:13-18; 1st Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 2:20-23, 21:8, 22:14-15.
[v.19] - Reference, Psalm 81:12; Proverbs 4:18; Ecclesiastes 7:26; Jeremiah 13:23; Hosea 4:14; Matthew 19:24-26; Hebrews 6:17-18.
[v.20] - Reference, Psalm 119:63, 115; Proverbs 13:20; Song of Solomon 1:7-8; Jeremiah 6:16; Hebrews 6:11-12; 3rd John 1:11.
[v.21] - Reference, Job 1:1, 42:10-17; Psalm 37:3, 9, 11, 22, 29, 37, 84:11, 112:4-6, 145:20; Isaiah 3:10.
[v.22] - Reference, Deuteronomy 28:58-65; Job 18:16-18, 21:30; Psalm 37:20, 22, 28, 38, 52:5, 104:35, 145:20; Proverbs 5:22-23; Isaiah 3:11.