2.1 My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;

So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding. Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding.

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasure. Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a shield to them that walk in integrity.

He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints.

Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yes, every good path.

Do you sincerely want to become wise? The Lord gives wisdom, says Solomon, but we have to ask for it. Perhaps that is why James says in the New Testament: "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given" (James 1:5). When we do this, something special happens, as promised earlier, and the quality of our thinking begins to change and improve and we begin to learn.

To learn wisdom, we have to make a deliberate decision to do so – to listen and apply our heart, to think and analyze and meditate, to take note and inwardly digest. It is not a casual thing. We must value wisdom highly, says Solomon, and search diligently for it as we would for a hidden treasure of silver and gold.

Perhaps this is why Jesus says: "The kingdom of heaven", the primary goal of the wise person, "is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in this joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it" (Matthew 13:44-46).

Notice that Godly wisdom is reserved for "saints", which simply signifies those who are righteous in their conduct, or at least sincerely seeking God’s help to be so. Jesus says that God is actually looking for people, fallible human beings like you and me, who are willing to enter into this special relationship with him, saying: "The time is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks" (John 4:23).

2.2 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul, discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you: To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks 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.

Wisdom affects the way we think and the way we live, and helps us avoid stupid mistakes and bad influences. The truly wise person is a deep thinker, a sincere seeker after Truth. He is fully switched on, but cautious. Whatever his field of endeavor, he loves knowledge deeply, reaches for excellence, and continually grows in understanding.

The wise man also conducts his affairs with discretion, straightforwardness and honesty. "Such wisdom", says James, "comes from above and is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity" (James 3:17).

The evil person, on the other hand, has a totally different approach, mistakenly thinking that the only way to get along in this world is by dishonesty and deception. Such people are froward -- perverse, difficult, cunning, and generally difficult and unpleasant to deal with. James describes their wisdom as earthly, un-spiritual, even devilish.

A path, metaphorically speaking, is a way of life that is established, like a trail across a field, by a person’s habitual pattern of thinking, speaking and acting. Do we take the straight and less traveled path of righteousness, with Wisdom as our companion -- or do we follow the evil and froward man along his crooked, dark and dangerous bye-ways? The two paths lead to different destinations.

2.3 To deliver you from the wife of another, from the adventuress with her smooth words.

Which forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither do they take hold of the paths of life.

So you will walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall inhabit 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.

Adultery is an ancient curse, destroying marriages and ruining the lives of children. Even today, whole societies and nations are being ruined by the sexual promiscuity of foolish people who are led by the nose by their lusts.

The wise man considers the consequences of his actions, and is not ruled by fleshly passions. As a result, he successfully resists the advances of the adventuress, the bored housewife who is looking for a bit of illicit fun to brighten her life. Such unwise liaisons can only lead to trouble, even violence and death, but strong men can be very weak and foolish, and the smooth words of a loose woman near irresistible.

This section also ends with a very important promise – namely that the upright and righteous will inhabit the land, but that the wicked will be rooted out, like weeds from a garden. "The meek shall inherit the earth", says Jesus (Matthew 5:5), and that is the message here. No matter how powerful the wicked may be or become, in the end they will be uprooted and destroyed. Solomon’s inspired proverbs reach out into the future, beyond death, on to the Judgment and into Eternal Life.