King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 10 notes
1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
Hide the commandment such that you never lose it.
2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Wisdom is not obtained passively and lackadaisically.
It is actively obtained and very deliberately.
5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
As hidden treasure? This shows the deliberateness that must be applied to get wisdom... Same as one does for riches and wealth 🧐
Quest for wisdom leads to knowledge of God.
So then, instead of combing the world 🗺 for wisdom and searching the ends of the earth, why don't we search for God, who is more easily attainable?
And his words are written and penned down for us all to see.
It's wisdom to actually fear 😱 God and seek him.
6For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
The wisdom I seek is not shrouded in some mysterious element out there in the ethos...
It's right here with us; it proceeds from the mouth 👄 of God; it's in the laws and instructions of righteousness.
Wisdom is our portion in the Lord.
We must seek, therefore, to know and understand the Lord more and more.
7He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
Ah, there we go! Without reading this verse, I had said in the previous verse that wisdom is found in the instructions of righteousness, and here we have it said clearly.
Righteousness is wisdom.
8He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
When one walks in righteous judgement, know that such paths of judgement are kept by the Lord himself.
9Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
Wisdom delivers us from wicked men and from strange women 🚺
17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
When you unite with a strange woman 👩, there is no turning back.
Once you sleep with her, it cannot be undone; you have begun to dig your own grave.
It's like letting trash words out of your mouth; once it's out, we know what is in your heart, and it cannot be unheard again.
20That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
So there is a certain path that is only for the righteous, and that path takes wisdom to be kept.
To be kept there from the wicked and wayward.
21For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.