Proverbs 6 Cross References - MSB

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger, ² if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth, ³ then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor. ⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. ⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. ⁶ Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise. ⁷ Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler, ⁸ it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest. ⁹ How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? ¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit. ¹² A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth, ¹³ winking his eyes, speaking with his feet, and pointing with his fingers. ¹⁴ With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord. ¹⁵ Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery. ¹⁶ There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers. ²⁰ My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ²¹ Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck. 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. ²⁵ Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. 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.

⁹ I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life.

³² Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’ ³³ Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers.

³ Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?

¹⁵ He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.

¹⁸ A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.

¹⁶ Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

²⁶ Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.

¹³ Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

¹⁸ But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account. ¹⁹ I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it—not to mention that you owe me your very self.

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

¹³ An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech, but a righteous man escapes from trouble.

⁷ A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

¹⁴ David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

⁵ Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’”

¹² And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the LORD.

⁸ You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

¹⁰ Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

¹⁷ Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house. ¹⁸ And let no one in the field return for his garments.

³⁵ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return—whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning. ³⁶ Otherwise, he may arrive without notice and find you sleeping.

¹ For the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!

³ Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away.

¹⁷ How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!

⁷ But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you. ⁸ Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹ How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?

²⁶ Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slacker to those who send him.

⁴ The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.

¹⁹ The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

⁹ Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.

¹⁵ Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

²⁴ The slacker buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth.

⁴ The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

²⁵ The craving of the slacker kills him because his hands refuse to work.

¹³ The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

³⁰ I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment. ³¹ Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down. ³² I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction: ³³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ³⁴ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

¹³ The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!” ¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges, so the slacker turns on his bed. ¹⁵ The slacker buries his hand in the dish; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. ¹⁶ The slacker is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly.

²⁵ The ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;

³ The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

²⁶ ‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ replied his master. ‘You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.

¹¹ Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

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

³⁹ Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions

²⁶ Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south? ²⁷ Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high? ²⁸ He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag. ²⁹ From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar. ³⁰ His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

⁴ Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life? ⁵ Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens? ⁶ Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants? ⁷ Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? ⁸ If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it! ⁹ Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming? ¹⁰ No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me? ¹¹ Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. ¹² I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form. ¹³ Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle? ¹⁴ Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth? ¹⁵ His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together. ¹⁶ One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them. ¹⁷ They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated. ¹⁸ His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn. ¹⁹ Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth! ²⁰ Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. ²¹ His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth. ²² Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him. ²³ The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. ²⁴ His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! ²⁵ When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing. ²⁶ The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow. ²⁷ He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. ²⁸ No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him. ²⁹ A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance. ³⁰ His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge. ³¹ He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. ³² He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair! ³³ Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature devoid of fear! ³⁴ He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

²⁷ the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation;

⁵ He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

¹⁹ treasuring up for themselves a firm foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of eternal life.

⁸ Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?

²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

¹⁴ Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

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

¹¹ And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for us to wake up from our slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

¹⁴ So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

² For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ For while people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. ⁴ But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief. ⁵ 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.

⁶ Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. ³⁴ You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:

⁴ Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

³⁴ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

²⁸ Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”

³ For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

⁷ His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

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

² Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit. ³ You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking truth. Selah ⁴ You love every word that devours, O deceitful tongue.

⁷ See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. ⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth.

¹² to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,

²⁴ Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.

¹⁴ With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

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

⁶ The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the faithless are trapped by their own desires.

²⁷ A worthless man digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

⁴ A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue.

² One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

⁸ But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them. ¹⁰ And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”

³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

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

¹³ At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention.

¹⁰ For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of (the) circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not.

²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.

⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

¹² Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

¹⁹ Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

⁶ She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

¹⁰ He who winks the eye causes grief, and foolish lips will come to ruin.

⁴ Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.

¹⁴ from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,

²⁹ Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he trustfully dwells beside you.

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

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.

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

⁸ He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

¹⁷ Like one who grabs a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own. ¹⁸ Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows, ¹⁹ so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” ²⁰ Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases. ²¹ Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. ²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.

⁷ The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.

²⁰ But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.

² And the LORD said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked counsel in this city.

⁷ For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

¹ Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

¹⁷ Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them.

⁷ Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. ⁸ The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

¹⁸ Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹ How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! ²⁰ Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

²⁷ when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

¹ A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.

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! ¹⁴ It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”

¹¹ and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.

³ For while people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, ¹¹ casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.

¹⁸ You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.

⁴ then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹⁶ For everyone who behaves dishonestly in regard to these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

⁵ The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.

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

¹ Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.

²⁰ The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but the blameless in their walk are His delight.

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight. ⁹ The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but He loves those who pursue righteousness.

¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the LORD.

¹⁰ Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the LORD.

²³ Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good.

¹⁸ There are three things too wonderful for me, four that I cannot understand:

²¹ Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:

²⁴ Four things on earth are small, yet they are exceedingly wise:

²⁹ There are three things that are stately in their stride, and four that are impressive in their walk:

³ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.

⁶ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they exiled a whole population, delivering them up to Edom.

⁹ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant of brotherhood.

¹¹ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.

⁴ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.

⁶ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.

²⁷ But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

¹⁰ Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

²⁵ ‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

⁴ and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.

⁶ You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.

²⁷ For You save an afflicted people, but You humble those with haughty eyes.

¹⁸ May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.

⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them. ⁷ From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild. ⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁵ Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

² Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and a deceitful tongue. ³ What will He do to you, and what will be added to you, O deceitful tongue?

¹ A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.

¹¹ If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

²² Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but those who deal faithfully are His delight.

⁵ An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness pours forth lies.

⁷ Eloquent words are unfit for a fool; how much worse are lying lips to a ruler!

⁴ Haughty eyes and a proud heart—the guides of the wicked—are sin.

²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

¹³ There is a generation—how haughty are their eyes and pretentious are their glances—

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

¹¹ The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

⁹ The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹⁶ The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

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. ⁶ Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

¹ Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land! ² Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

⁵ Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility, being subject to one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

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

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

⁸ He who plots evil will be called a schemer.

⁷ Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

¹⁷ do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely, for I hate all these things,” declares the LORD.

¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹ “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.

¹⁶ If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime, ¹⁷ both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. ¹⁸ The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, ¹⁹ you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you. ²⁰ Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.

¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” ¹¹ So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast and gave Naboth a seat of honor among the people. ¹³ And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. ¹⁴ Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” ¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to give it to you for silver. For Naboth is no longer alive, but dead.”

¹² Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

¹¹ Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.

¹⁷ He who speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

²⁸ A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.

⁵ A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.

⁹ A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who pours out lies will perish.

¹⁰ Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease.

¹⁸ Like a club or sword or sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.

²⁰ Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.

¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

¹³ where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemies against this holy place and against the law.

²³ But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling.

¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. 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.

¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

⁹ I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction. ¹⁰ So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

¹⁸ If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

¹⁶ ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. ⁹ For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.

¹ My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. ² Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. ³ Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman,

²² Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

¹¹ There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

¹⁶ So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

⁸ Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

³ Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

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

²¹ Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.

³ It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴ As for the deeds of men—by the word of Your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent.

³ Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, and to the place where You dwell.

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

¹¹ I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

²⁴ Your testimonies are indeed my delight; they are my counselors.

⁵⁴ Your statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage.

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

¹⁴⁸ My eyes anticipate the watches of night, that I may meditate on Your word.

¹¹ Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,

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.

¹⁸ Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many of them. But a commander will put an end to his reproach and will turn it back upon him. ¹⁹ After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be no more. ²⁰ In his place one will arise who will send out a tax collector for the glory of the kingdom; but within a few days he will be destroyed, though not in anger or in battle. ²¹ In his place a despicable person will arise; royal honors will not be given to him, but he will come in a time of peace and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

¹⁷ You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.

⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me. ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I discern more than the elders, for I obey Your precepts.

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

⁵ Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.

¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.

⁴ he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.

¹³ Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.

¹² and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

²⁴ The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

³¹ He who listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.

¹⁵ A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.

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

⁸ Furthermore, you are to tell this people that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

¹⁹ We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

⁵ Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place.

¹⁶ It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words

³ Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,

⁵ that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.

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.

² One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. ⁵ And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

³⁰ Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.

⁹ You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.

²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. ¹⁵ Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁴ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could.

³⁶ And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”

¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

²³ until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

³ A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁸ Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger.

⁸ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁸ and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their wrists and make veils for the heads of people of every height, in order to ensnare their souls. Will you ensnare the souls of My people but preserve your own?

¹³ After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.

³⁰ But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door, ¹⁰ then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her. ¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged. ¹² For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.

⁴ They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough. ⁵ The princes are inflamed with wine on the day of our king; so he joins hands with those who mock him. ⁶ For they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. ⁷ All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings fall; not one of them calls upon Me.

⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.

¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

⁴ Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? ⁵ Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” ⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and all who belong to you.”

¹⁰ “What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹ So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

¹⁰ If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.

³ So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

⁹ Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

²¹ Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

⁵ Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished.

⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife. ⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

¹¹ One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

¹ Now for the matters about which you wrote me: It is good to abstain from sexual relations.

³⁹ Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions

¹ “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. ² If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed. ³ But if it happens after sunrise, there is guilt for his bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution; if he has nothing, he himself shall be sold for his theft. ⁴ If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—he must pay back double.

⁶ Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

¹⁸ He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.

²⁵ Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”

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.

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.

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.

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.

⁷ I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment,

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.

³⁶ But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

⁴ “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” she says to him who lacks judgment.

¹⁶ “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” she says to him who lacks judgment. ¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!” ¹⁸ But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

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. 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.

⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

²¹ “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

³¹ Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?

¹¹ Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding. ¹² My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.

⁹ You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me—against your helper.

²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.

⁴ Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

⁴ Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

¹⁹ And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. ²¹ Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.

⁵ For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything the LORD commanded all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

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.

¹ A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath. ² For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me. ³ There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin. ⁴ For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear. ⁵ My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly. ⁶ I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning. ⁷ For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body. ⁸ I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

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,

⁶ and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David the king was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

¹⁴ and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—

¹¹ “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.

²⁹ When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. ³⁰ And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”

⁴ Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

⁶ Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

²² Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

¹ Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

³ When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,

¹³ She seizes him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him:

²⁵ Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth,

⁹ So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled—do not forgive them!

⁹ “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”