Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 My son, if you will receive my words, And store up my mitzvot within you;
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Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
2 So as to turn your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
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Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.
3 Yes, if you call out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding;
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That's right - if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer,
4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures:
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Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.
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Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
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And here's why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;
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He's a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
8 That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his holy ones.
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He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
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So now you can pick out what's true and fair, find all the good trails!
10 For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
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Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
11 Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,
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Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you.
12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the men who speak perverse things;
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They'll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions
13 Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
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Of those who are lost themselves and can't tell a trail from a tumbleweed,
14 Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;
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These losers who make a game of evil and throw parties to celebrate perversity,
15 Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:
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Traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;
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Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress - that smooth-talking Seductress
17 Who forsakes the friend of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God:
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Who's faithless to the husband she married years ago, never gave a second thought to her promises before God.
18 For her house leads down to death, Her paths to the dead.
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Her whole way of life is doomed; every step she takes brings her closer to hell.
19 None who go to her return again, Neither do they attain to the paths of life:
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No one who joins her company ever comes back, ever sets foot on the path to real living.
20 That you may walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
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So - join the company of good men and women, keep your feet on the tried and true paths.
21 For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.
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It's the men who walk straight who will settle this land, the women with integrity who will last here.
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
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The corrupt will lose their lives; the dishonest will be gone for good.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.