BOOK 20 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Proverbs 2

Proverbs book home•Chapter 2 of 31•22 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Proverbs 2 Overview

The father urges his son to receive and search for wisdom; the LORD gives wisdom, which guards from crooked men and the strange woman and keeps the learner in the good way.

ProverbsBook

2Chapter

22Verses

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Before you read Proverbs 2

Coming from

Proverbs 1 emphasized the purpose of proverbs and wisdom's first call. Because many proverbs are individual sayings rather than a continuous argument, the chapter-to-chapter connection is thematic rather than narrative.

In this chapter

The father urges his son to receive and search for wisdom; the LORD gives wisdom, which guards from crooked men and the strange woman and keeps the learner in the good way.

Leads into

Proverbs 3 turns to trust the lord rather than your own understanding, expanding wisdom into another set of choices, contrasts, and observations.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter presents wisdom as both a gift from God and something diligently sought; those are complementary, not competing ideas. Proverbs uses compact wisdom sayings to train judgment. Its normal patterns describe how God’s moral order ordinarily works; they are not mechanical guarantees that remove human freedom, suffering, or providence.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Central truth

Seek wisdom as treasure because it protects the path.

Wisdom truth

In Proverbs 2, wisdom is moral skill under the fear of the LORD, not merely intelligence or practical cleverness.

Sexual Purity truth

In Proverbs 2, sexual choices are treated as morally serious because they affect covenant faithfulness, character, and life.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Wisdom connection

James 1:5 says those who lack wisdom should ask God, who gives generously. This connection helps frame Proverbs 2.

Sexual Purity connection

1 Corinthians 6:18 commands believers to flee fornication. This connection helps frame Proverbs 2.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep wisdom in context

Do not read Proverbs 2 as a set of magic formulas. Proverbs trains wise judgment in the ordinary moral order God established.

Keep sexual purity in context

Keep the moral responsibility of every participant clear in Proverbs 2; warnings about seduction never excuse the person who knowingly consents to sin.

Read Proverbs 2 watching for…

receive words.

seek as silver.

LORD gives wisdom.

deliver evil man.

deliver strange woman.

Chapter outline2 sections

1-9Seek wisdom as treasure, and the LORD gives understanding and guards the upright 10-22Wisdom delivers from evil men and the strange woman and keeps a person in the good path

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

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Proverbs 2:13

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