The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
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My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.
2 Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.
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Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.
3 That's right - if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer,
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Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
4 Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
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Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
5 Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
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Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.
6 And here's why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.
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For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He's a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
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He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
8 He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
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He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.
9 So now you can pick out what's true and fair, find all the good trails!
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Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.
10 Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
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For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.
11 Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you.
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Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.
12 They'll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions
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Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.
13 Of those who are lost themselves and can't tell a trail from a tumbleweed,
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These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths.
14 These losers who make a game of evil and throw parties to celebrate perversity,
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They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.
15 Traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
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Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong.
16 Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress - that smooth-talking Seductress
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Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.
17 Who's faithless to the husband she married years ago, never gave a second thought to her promises before God.
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She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God.
18 Her whole way of life is doomed; every step she takes brings her closer to hell.
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Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave.
19 No one who joins her company ever comes back, ever sets foot on the path to real living.
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The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life.
20 So - join the company of good men and women, keep your feet on the tried and true paths.
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Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous.
21 It's the men who walk straight who will settle this land, the women with integrity who will last here.
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For only the godly will live in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it.
22 The corrupt will lose their lives; the dishonest will be gone for good.
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But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted.
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.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.