Proverbs 2 Cross References - BSB

¹ My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you, ² if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding, ³ if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, ⁴ if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity, ⁸ to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints. ⁹ Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path. ¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul. ¹¹ Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, ¹² to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity, ¹³ from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness, ¹⁴ from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil, ¹⁵ whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious. ¹⁶ It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words ¹⁷ who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. ¹⁸ For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits. ¹⁹ None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life. ²⁰ So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous. ²¹ For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it; ²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.

⁶ These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

¹² I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. ¹⁰ With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments. ¹¹ I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

³ and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity.

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

¹ Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

¹⁰ Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.

²⁰ My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. ²¹ Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. ²² For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.

²¹ Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck.

¹ My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.

⁴⁴ The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field.

¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

⁵¹ Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

⁴⁴ “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

⁴⁷ As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

¹² So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

¹¹¹ Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. ¹¹² I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes, even to the very end.

¹ He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.

¹⁷ Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise—apply your mind to my knowledge— ¹⁸ for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips. ¹⁹ So that your trust may be in the LORD, I instruct you today—yes, you. ²⁰ Have I not written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge, ²¹ to show you true and reliable words, that you may soundly answer those who sent you?

¹² Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

²⁵ I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.

⁹ All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

³ Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹¹ Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

⁹ Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?” ¹⁰ Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request. ¹¹ So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies—but you have asked for discernment to administer justice— ¹² behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has never been nor will ever be another like you.

¹² Above all, may the LORD give you insight and understanding when He puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the Law of the LORD your God.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. ⁵ Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

³⁴ Give me understanding that I may obey Your law, and follow it with all my heart.

⁷³ Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.

¹²⁵ I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.

¹⁶⁹ May my cry come before You, O LORD; give me understanding according to Your word.

⁶ in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

¹⁷ I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.

¹³ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him. ¹⁸ I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

²¹ who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,

¹² But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell? ¹³ No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. ¹⁴ The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’ ¹⁵ It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver. ¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. ¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can compare to it, nor jewels of fine gold be exchanged for it. ¹⁸ Coral and quartz are unworthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. ¹⁹ Topaz from Cush cannot compare to it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. ²⁰ From where then does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell?

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

¹⁴ I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.

⁷² The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

¹²⁷ Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, even the purest gold.

¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold. ¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

¹⁸ With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and righteousness. ¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, pure gold, and my harvest surpasses choice silver.

¹⁶ How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

²³ Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

⁸ There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.

¹⁹ Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²¹ Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” ²² When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.

²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

⁸ The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

¹⁰ Now grant me wisdom and knowledge, so that I may lead this people. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?” ¹¹ God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart instead of requesting riches or wealth or glory for yourself or death for your enemies—and since you have not even requested long life but have asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern My people over whom I have made you king— ¹² therefore wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will also give you riches and wealth and honor unlike anything given to the kings before you or after you.”

²⁸ And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

²⁴ But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

⁷ I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

³⁴ No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me. ⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

³ So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

⁷ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

²⁷ All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

²² All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

⁹ So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

³ Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

³ And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship,

⁹ Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

¹² behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has never been nor will ever be another like you.

²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.

⁸ But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

⁷ The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.

¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.

²³ For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

⁵ O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding. ⁶ Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right. ⁷ For my mouth will speak the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips. ⁸ All the words of my mouth are righteous; none are crooked or perverse. ⁹ They are all plain to the discerning, and upright to those who find knowledge.

²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

¹³ Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.

¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. And Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.

²¹ He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

²³ To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, because You have given me wisdom and power. And now You have made known to me what we have requested, for You have made known to us the dream of the king.”

¹⁵ For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

⁸ Proud beasts have never trodden it; no lion has ever prowled over it.

¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

² He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. He is my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

¹⁴ Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.

⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.

¹⁸ He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.

⁵ Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

¹⁹ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

³⁰ It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

⁶ Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began.

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

¹⁵ From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

³ Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—

²⁶ “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty. ²⁷ The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’ ²⁸ So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew. ²⁹ Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”

⁹ He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

⁶ For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

²³ The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey. ²⁴ Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.

²⁸ For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

³¹ The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.

⁹ He preserves our lives and keeps our feet from slipping.

⁵ The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is the shade on your right hand. ⁶ The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. ⁷ The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul. ⁸ The LORD will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.

²⁰ The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.

²¹ My son, do not lose sight of this: Preserve sound judgment and discernment. ²² They will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck. ²³ Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. ²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.

²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

⁹ No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.

⁹ to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill. ¹⁰ They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way. ⁹ He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.

⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

⁸ Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul. ⁹ Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD; I flee to You for refuge. ¹⁰ Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

² for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, ³ and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. ⁴ To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, ⁵ let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel ⁶ by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

⁸ And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

¹⁷ Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

¹³ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.

¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!

¹¹¹ Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

¹⁶² I rejoice in Your promise like one who finds great spoil.

³³ Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning; even among fools she is known.

¹ He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment. ² A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in airing his opinions.

¹³ Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste. ¹⁴ Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, there is a future for you, and your hope will never be cut off.

¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

²¹ May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.

⁶ Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

²² When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. ²³ For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life, ²⁴ to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

¹⁵ Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. ¹⁶ And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.” ¹⁷ The calm words of the wise are heeded over the shouts of a ruler among fools. ¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

¹⁰ If the axe is dull and the blade unsharpened, more strength must be exerted, but skill produces success.

¹⁵ Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

⁴ As for the deeds of men—by the word of Your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. ⁵ My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.

⁴ I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites. ⁵ I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.

⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know nothing of evil.

⁴ Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them. ¹¹ If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, ¹² let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. ¹³ We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder. ¹⁴ Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”— ¹⁵ my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path. ¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood. ¹⁷ How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it! ¹⁸ But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. ¹⁹ Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

³² for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.

¹⁴ Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. ¹⁵ Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by. ¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall. ¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹³ To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

⁶ Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”

²⁰ He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

²⁸ A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends. ²⁹ A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good. ³⁰ He who winks his eye devises perversity; he who purses his lips is bent on evil.

³ For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice. ⁴ No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. ⁵ They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

³⁰ Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.

³³ Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹³ Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths. ¹⁴ When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief. ¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face. ¹⁶ In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in, never to experience the light.

³ All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

³ The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.

⁵ They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

¹⁶ The man who strays from the path of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

²⁶ If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, he will die for this. He will die because of the iniquity he has committed.

¹² Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’ ¹³ If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but he then trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteous works will be remembered; he will die because of the iniquity he has committed.

⁶ and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”

⁴³ When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house vacant, swept clean, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there; and the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”

⁶ There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.

⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone serves the fine wine first, and then the cheap wine after the guests are drunk. But you have saved the fine wine until now!” ¹¹ Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

¹⁹ And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

⁵ For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶ So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

¹⁰ because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age— ⁶ and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame.

²⁰ If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. ²² Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.

²³ The fool delights in shameful conduct, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

¹⁵ What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom, so that you can rejoice?

³ They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.

¹⁵ The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.

¹¹ On that day you will not be put to shame for any of the deeds by which you have transgressed against Me. For then I will remove from among you those who rejoice in their pride, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain.

⁴ And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them. ⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

⁶ Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

⁵ His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.

⁵ But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

⁸ The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁸ Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever. ⁹ These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction. ¹⁰ They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. ¹¹ Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!” ¹² Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, ¹³ this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant!

⁸ The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.

¹⁵ so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world

³ When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did, ⁴ Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned. ⁵ From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field. ⁶ So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” ⁸ But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. ⁹ No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” ¹⁰ Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. ¹¹ One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. ¹² She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

²⁶ Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin. ²⁷ Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

³ Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, ⁴ in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. ⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. ⁶ She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. ⁷ So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth. ⁸ Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house, ⁹ lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel; ¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner. ¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, ¹² and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! ¹³ I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. ¹⁴ I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.” ¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. ¹⁶ Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? ¹⁷ Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. ¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth: ¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever. ²⁰ Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?

²⁴ to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

⁵ that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words. ⁶ For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice. ⁷ I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment, ⁸ crossing the street near her corner, strolling down the road to her house, ⁹ at twilight, as the day was fading into the dark of the night. ¹⁰ Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart. ¹¹ She is loud and defiant; her feet do not remain at home. ¹² Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner. ¹³ She seizes him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him: ¹⁴ “I have made my peace offerings; today I have paid my vows. ¹⁵ So I came out to meet you; I sought you, and I have found you. ¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt. ¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon. ¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses! ¹⁹ For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. ²⁰ He took with him a bag of money and will not return till the moon is full.” ²¹ With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him. ²² He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap, ²³ until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

¹⁴ The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.

²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.

⁵ A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

²⁶ And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

⁴ Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

⁸ Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.

⁵⁹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

¹⁴ Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.

⁴ in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. ⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. ⁶ She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. ⁷ So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth. ⁸ Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house, ⁹ lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel; ¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner. ¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, ¹² and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! ¹³ I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. ¹⁴ I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”

²⁶ For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. ²⁷ Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned? ²⁸ Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? ²⁹ So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. ³⁰ Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger. ³¹ Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house. ³² He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. ³³ Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away. ³⁴ For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance. ³⁵ He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.

²² He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap, ²³ until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life. ²⁴ Now, my sons, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths. ²⁶ For she has brought many down to death; her slain are many in number. ²⁷ Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

¹⁸ But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁸ But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

¹⁵ But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹² So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.

¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

¹⁸ Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

⁶³ I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.

¹¹⁵ Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may obey the commandments of my God.

⁷ Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions? ⁸ If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

¹² Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.

¹² So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

⁹ For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.

²² Surely those He blesses will inherit the land, but the cursed will be destroyed.

²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.

⁴ Light dawns in the darkness for the upright—for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous. ⁵ It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice. ⁶ Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous man will be remembered forever.

³⁰ The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not inhabit the land.

²² The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.

⁶³ Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴ Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

¹⁶ The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away. ¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land. ¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.

³⁰ Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

²⁰ But the wicked and enemies of the LORD will perish like the glory of the fields. They will vanish; like smoke they will fade away.

³⁷ Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace. ³⁸ But the transgressors will all be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.

⁵ Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

³⁵ May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!

²² The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him. ²³ He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor. ¹¹ Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.