Proverbs Cross References - NSB

¹⁵ My son, do not walk in the way with them. Withhold your food from their path! ¹⁶ For their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood. ¹⁷ Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. ¹⁸ They lie in wait for their own blood (murder). They set an ambush for their own lives. ¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust dishonest gain. Greed takes away the life of its owner. ²⁰ Wisdom calls you! She raises her voice in the streets and marketplaces. ²¹ She calls in the streets, in the opening of the gates: in the city she utters her words. She says: ²² »How long, you simple (stupid) (foolish) ones, will you love simplicity (foolishness) (stupidity)? The scoffers delight in scoffing. Fools hate knowledge! ²³ »Listen when I reprove you. I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. ²⁴ »I called you! I stretched out my hand to you. You paid no attention to me. ²⁵ »You have ignored all my counsel. You accept no correction. ²⁶ »I also will laugh at your trouble. I will mock when your fear comes. ²⁷ »Trouble and distress will surround you like a whirlwind, like a great storm. ²⁸ »You will ask for my help, but I will not listen. You will search, but you will not find me. ²⁹ »You have no use for knowledge and you refuse to respect Jehovah. ³⁰ »You rejected my advice and paid no attention when I warned you. ³¹ »Now you will get what you deserve for what you have done. Your own advice will make you sick. ³² »Sin and self-satisfaction bring destruction and death to stupid fools. ³³ »Whoever listens to me will be secure and will be free from the fear of evil.« ¹ The proverbs 0f Solomon son of David, king of Israel: ² To know wisdom and instruction. To discern and understand words. ³ To receive instruction with wisdom, justice, judgment and integrity. ⁴ To give wisdom and refinement to the simple. To the young man knowledge and discretion. ⁵ A wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding will procure wise counsel. ⁶ This will help him understand a proverb and the interpretation as well as the words of the wise and their riddles. ⁷ Respect for Jehovah (YHWH) is the beginning of knowledge (truth) (understanding) (wisdom). Fools despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸ My son, listen to the instruction of your father. Do not forsake the law of your mother. ⁹ Discipline and education are a graceful ornament on your head, and a golden chain around your neck. ¹⁰ My son, if sinners tempt you do not consent. ¹¹ If they say: »Come with us. Let us lie in wait to kill someone. Let us ambush the innocent without cause. ¹² »Let us swallow them alive and whole just as the grave does, and just as the dead go into the pit. ¹³ »We will find precious material possessions and we fill our houses with plunder. ¹⁴ »Throw in with us. Let us all have one purse.«

³ Jehovah said: »My Spirit will not contend (judge) (plead) with man forever, for he is mortal and corrupt. Therefore his days will be a hundred and twenty years.«

⁷ Soon his master’s wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her. ⁸ He refused, and said to her: »My master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has. ⁹ »No one in this house is greater than I. He has kept nothing back from me except you. You are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?« ¹⁰ She kept asking Joseph day after day. He refused to go to bed with her or be with her. ¹¹ One day he went into the house to do his work. None of the household servants were there. ¹² She grabbed him by his coat and said: »Come to bed with me!« But he ran outside and left his coat in her hand. ¹³ When she realized that he had gone but had left his coat behind,

⁴² Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck.

³ Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him: »Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.

²⁸ Jehovah spoke to Moses: »How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?

³ »‘Respect your mother and father. Observe my days of worship. I am Jehovah your God!

⁸ »‘I speak with him face to face. I speak plainly and not in riddles. He even sees the form of Jehovah. Why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?’«

²⁷ »How long must I put up with this wicked congregation that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me.

³⁰ »But if Jehovah does something totally new, if the ground opens up, swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive to their graves; then you will know that these men have treated Jehovah with contempt.« ³¹ When he finished speaking, the ground under them split, ³² and the earth opened up to swallow them, their families, the followers of Korah, and all their property. ³³ They went down alive to their graves with everything that belonged to them. The ground covered them. They disappeared from the assembly.

¹⁰ The ground opened up and swallowed them along with Korah. They and their followers died when the fire consumed the two hundred and fifty men. This was a warning.

⁵ »I have taught you laws and rules as Jehovah my God commanded me. You must obey them when you enter the land and take possession of it. ⁶ »Carefully obey the laws. For this will show your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations. They will hear all these statutes and say: ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

⁸ »Do not yield to him or listen to him. Your eye should not have pity on him. You should not spare or conceal him.

¹⁸ »If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen or obey his father or his mother when they chastise him, ¹⁹ »His father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. ²⁰ »They shall say to the elders of his city: This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious! He will not obey us! He is a glutton and a drunkard. ²¹ »All the men of his city shall stone him to death. In that way you will remove the evil from your midst. All Israel will hear about it and fear.

¹⁵ »Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and disrespectful. You got fat! You were stuffed! You over eat! He abandoned the God who made him and scornfully treated the rock of his salvation. ¹⁶ »They made God furious because they worshiped foreign gods and angered him (stirred up his zeal) because they worshiped worthless idols. ¹⁷ »They sacrificed to demons that are not God. They served gods they did not know. These were new gods who came from nearby, gods your ancestors never worshiped. ¹⁸ »You ignored the rock that fathered you and forgot the God who gave you life. ¹⁹ »Jehovah saw this and rejected them. His own sons and daughters made him angry. ²⁰ »He said: ‘I will turn away from them and find out what will happen to them. They are a devious and perverse generation. They are children who have no faith. ²¹ »They made him furious because they worshiped foreign gods. They angered him because they worshiped worthless idols. So I will use those who are not my people to make them jealous and a nation of godless fools to make them angry. ²² My anger has started a fire that will burn into the depths of the grave. It will consume the earth and its crops and set the foundations of the mountains on fire. ²³ »I will heap distress on them! I will use my arrows on them. ²⁴ »They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter destruction. I will send teeth of wild animals on them, with the venom of crawling things (reptiles) of the dust. ²⁵ »Outside the sword will bereave. Inside terror shall destroy both young man and virgin, babies and old man with gray hair. ²⁶ »I would have said: ‘I will cut them to pieces. I will remove the memory of them from men.’ ²⁷ »I did not want their enemies to make me angry. I did not want their opponents to misunderstand and say: We won this victory! Jehovah did not do all this! ²⁸ »My people have lost their good sense. They do not understand. ²⁹ They fail to see why they were defeated. They cannot understand what happened. ³⁰ »Why were a thousand defeated by one? Why ten thousand by only two? Jehovah their God abandoned them! Their mighty God gave them up. ³¹ »Their rock is not like our rock! Their enemies know that their own gods are weak, not mighty like Israel's God. ³² »Their vine is like the vine of Sodom. Their fields are like Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of anger. Their clusters are bitter. ³³ »Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps (cobras). ³⁴ »Is this not laid up in store with me and sealed up among my treasures? ³⁵ »Vengeance and retribution belong to me. (Vengeance is mine, I will repay.) Their foot shall slide in time, for the day of their calamity is at hand. The things to come on them come quickly. ³⁶ »Jehovah will bring his people justice. He will have compassion on his servants. He sees that their power is gone, and only the imprisoned and abandoned remain. ³⁷ »He will say: ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge? ³⁸ »Who ate the fat of their sacrifices? Who drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you. Let them be your hiding place! ³⁹ »See now that I, even I, am he. There is no god besides me! It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heals. There is no one who can deliver from my hand. ⁴⁰ »Indeed, I lift up my hand to heaven, and say: As I live forever, ⁴¹ »I sharpen my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on justice! I will render vengeance on my adversaries. I will repay those who hate me. ⁴² »I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword will devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the longhaired leaders of the enemy. ⁴³ »Rejoice you nations with his people. He will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance on his adversaries, and will atone for his land and his people.« ⁴⁴ Then Moses came, along with Joshua son of Nun, and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.

¹⁴ »Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them save you in your time of trouble.«

¹⁶ She kept asking him, day after day. He got sick and tired of her nagging him. ¹⁷ So finally he told her the truth: »My hair has never been cut,« he said: »I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. I would lose my strength if my hair were cut.« ¹⁸ When Delilah realized that he told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings: »Come back one more time. He told me the truth. They came and brought the money with them.« ¹⁹ Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and called a man, who cut off Samson’s seven locks of hair. Then she tormented him, for he had lost his strength. ²⁰ She shouted: »Samson! The Philistines are coming!« He woke up and thought: »I will get loose and go free, as always.« He did not know that Jehovah had left him. ²¹ The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with copper chains. They put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison.

¹⁸ »You will cry out because of the king whom you have chosen for yourselves. Jehovah will not answer you when that day comes.«

²⁵ »If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against Jehovah, who will intercede for him?« But his sons did not listen to the voice of their father. Jehovah desired to put them to death.

³² David said to Abigail: »Blessed is Jehovah the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me. ³³ »Blessed is your good judgment and blessed are you for keeping me from slaughtering people today and from getting a victory by my own efforts.

²⁴ David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to bed with her, and she later gave birth to a son. David named him Solomon. Jehovah loved the child. ²⁵ He sent a message through the prophet Nathan to name the baby Jedidiah (Jehovah’s Beloved).

¹¹ »What! You saw what?« Joab said. »Why did you not strike him to the ground? Then I would have felt obligated to give you four ounces of silver and a belt.« ¹² The man told Joab: »Even if I felt the weight of twenty pounds of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son. We heard the order the king gave you, Abishai, and Ittai. Protect the young man Absalom for my sake. ¹³ »Would you have stood by me if I did something treacherous to him? There is nothing hidden from the king. You would turn against me.«

¹² Solomon succeeded his father David as king. His royal power was firmly established.

⁹ ‘Give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice. Help me know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?« ¹⁰ Jehovah was pleased that Solomon asked for this. ¹¹ He said to him: »Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly, instead of long life for yourself or riches or the death of your enemies, ¹² »I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had. There has never been nor will ever be anyone like you.

²⁸ The people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision and were all filled with deep respect for him. They knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly.

³¹ He was the wisest of all men. He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, and the sons of Mahol. His fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries. ³² He wrote three thousand proverbs and more than a thousand songs.

²⁰ when Elisha's servant Gehazi said to himself: »My master has let Naaman get away without paying a thing! He should have accepted what that Syrian offered him. By the living God Jehovah I will run after him and get something from him.« ²¹ He ran after Naaman. When Naaman saw a man running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him, and asked: »What is wrong?« ²² »Nothing is wrong,« answered Gehazi. »But my master sent me to tell you that just now two members of the group of prophets in the hill country of Ephraim arrived. He would like you to give them three thousand pieces of silver and two changes of fine clothes.« ²³ »Please take six thousand pieces of silver,« Naaman replied. He tied the silver in two bags and gave them and two changes of fine clothes to two of his servants, and sent them on ahead of Gehazi. ²⁴ They reached the hill where Elisha lived. Gehazi took the two bags and carried them into the house. Then he sent Naaman's servants back. ²⁵ He went into the house. Elisha asked him: »Where have you been?« »Oh, nowhere,« he answered. ²⁶ Elisha said: »Was I there in spirit when the man got out of his chariot to meet you? This is no time to accept money and clothes, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, or servants! ²⁷ »Naaman's leprosy will come upon you. You and your descendants will have it from generation to generation!« When Gehazi left, he had the disease. His skin was as white as snow.

⁹ »‘You will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon (peace), and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign.

²⁸ He died at a very old age, wealthy and respected, and his son Solomon succeeded him as king.

⁵ »Of all my sons, for Jehovah has given me many sons, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of Jehovah’s kingdom to rule Israel.

¹⁶ The king asked him: »Did we make you an adviser to the king? Stop! Do you want me to have you killed?« The prophet stopped. He said: »I know that God has decided to destroy you because you did this. Yet you refuse to listen to my advice.«

¹⁶ They mocked God’s messengers. They despised his words, and made fun of his prophets until Jehovah became angry with his people. He could no longer heal them.

¹⁰ So Haman was put to death by hanging him on the pillar he made for Mordecai. Then the king's rage subsided.

⁸ »When I saw those who plowed wickedness and planted misery, they gathered its harvest.

¹⁴ »They say to God: ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.’ ¹⁵ »Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what do we gain if we pray to him?

²² »Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

² »The wicked remove landmarks. They seize flocks and pasture them. ³ »They drive away the donkey of the orphan. They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

³⁹ If I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners;

¹⁴ See how they conceive evil. They are pregnant with wickedness and give birth to lies. ¹⁵ They dig out a pit and fall into the hole that they have made. ¹⁶ Their mischief returns upon their own heads. Their violence descends on their own heads.

¹⁶ Jehovah has revealed himself by his righteous judgments. The wicked are trapped by their deeds.

⁸ He waits in ambush in the villages. From his hiding places he kills innocent people. He searches for victims. ⁹ He lurks in his hiding place like a lion in his den. He hides there to catch oppressed people. He catches oppressed people after he draws them into his net. ¹⁰ His victims are crushed. They collapse, and they fall into the power of the wicked.

⁹ »Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him?

²⁸ »To man he said: ‘Respect for Jehovah is wisdom! To stay away from evil is understanding.’«

⁷ »Who is there like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water?

¹⁰ »Hear me, you who have sense, far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

¹⁶ »But if you understand, hear this; Listen to the sound of my words.

³⁴ »Any sensible person will agree; and the wise that hear me will say

¹¹ »Who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the air? ¹² »They cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers.

¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful mockers.

⁴ The One who dwells in heaven laughs. Jehovah scoffs at them.

⁹ There is nothing truthful in what they say! Their inward part is destruction. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue.

¹² Each one of them is like a lion eager to tear its prey apart and like a young lion crouching in hiding places.

⁴¹ They cried out for help, but there was no one to save them. They cried out to Jehovah, but he did not answer them.

⁷ The law of Jehovah is perfect. It gives new life. The testimony of Jehovah is dependable. It makes the simple wise.

⁴ I do not sit with deceitful men, and I will not be found among hypocrites. ⁵ I hate the assembly of evildoers and will not sit with wicked people.

¹ ([Psalm of David]) O Jehovah, I call to you. O my rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. If you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit (grave).

²⁰ You hide them in the secret place of your presence from those who scheme against them. You keep them in a secret shelter, safe from quarrelsome tongues.

¹¹ Come, you sons, listen to me. I will teach you the respect of Jehovah.

¹² Who is this person who respects Jehovah? He is the one whom Jehovah will teach the way he should choose. ¹³ He will enjoy good things in life, and his descendants will inherit the land.

⁷ They hid their net in a pit for no reason. They dug the pit to trap me for no reason.

²⁵ Do not let them say: Aha, just what we wanted! We have swallowed him up.

¹³ Jehovah laughs at him, for he sees that his day will come.

⁴ I will incline my ear (turn my attention) to a proverb. I will explain my riddle with the music of a harp.

²³ But You, O God, will bring them down to the corruption of the grave. Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.

¹ ([Psalm of David]) Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me. Fighting all day long he oppresses me. ² My foes have trampled upon me all day long. They are many who fight proudly against me.

⁶ They attack, they lurk, and they watch my steps. They have waited for my life.

³ He will send from heaven, and save me, He rebukes the one who is pursuing me. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.

⁹ Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.

²² Let their table before them become a snare. Let it become retribution and a trap.

²² Let their table before them become a snare. Let it become retribution and a trap. ²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see. Let their backs be continually bent. ²⁴ Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them. ²⁵ Let their habitation be desolate and let no one live in their tents. ²⁶ For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt. ²⁷ Charge them with crime upon crime. Do not let them come into your righteousness. ²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.

¹⁶ But God says to the wicked: »How dare you quote my decrees and mouth my covenant! ¹⁷ »You hate discipline. You cast (throw) my words behind you. ¹⁸ »When you see a thief, you make friends with him. You keep company with people who commit adultery.

⁵ They are determined to do evil, and they tell themselves: Let us set traps! No one can see us. ⁶ They devise evil plans and say: We will commit the perfect crime. The thoughts and the heart of man are deep.

² I will open my mouth in an illustration. I will utter dark sayings of old,

³⁴ When he killed some of them, the rest searched for him. They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for God. ³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock, that the Most High was their defender. ³⁶ They flattered him with their mouths and lied to him with their tongues.

⁶ A stupid (senseless) person cannot know and a fool cannot understand. ⁷ Wicked people sprout like grass and all troublemakers flourish. Yet they will be destroyed forever.

⁸ Pay attention, you stupid (senseless) people! When will you become wise, you fools?

¹¹ »My people did not listen to my voice. Israel did not obey me.

¹³ »Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

¹¹ They had rebelled against God's words and had despised the advice given by the Most High.

¹⁰ The respect and reverence for Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom. All who obey his commandments show good sense (insight) and understanding. His praise endures (continues) forever.

⁷ He is not afraid of bad news. His heart remains secure, full of confidence in Jehovah. ⁸ His heart is steady, and he is not afraid. In the end he will look triumphantly at his enemies.

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

¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.

¹⁷³ Let Your hand be ready to help me. For I have chosen your precepts.

⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers, for your laws are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, since I have observed your precepts. ¹⁰¹ I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word.

¹¹¹ I have inherited your laws forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

³ »Then they would have swallowed us up quickly, when their wrath was kindled against us.

⁷ Answer me quickly, O Jehovah for my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will become like those who go down to the pit.

¹ ([Psalm of David]) I will praise you, my God and King! I will consecrate your name forever and ever.

¹⁵ My son, do not walk in the way with them. Withhold your food from their path! ¹⁶ For their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.

¹⁸ They lie in wait for their own blood (murder). They set an ambush for their own lives. ¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust dishonest gain. Greed takes away the life of its owner.

²² »How long, you simple (stupid) (foolish) ones, will you love simplicity (foolishness) (stupidity)? The scoffers delight in scoffing. Fools hate knowledge!

²² »How long, you simple (stupid) (foolish) ones, will you love simplicity (foolishness) (stupidity)? The scoffers delight in scoffing. Fools hate knowledge! ²³ »Listen when I reprove you. I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you.

²⁵ »You have ignored all my counsel. You accept no correction.

²⁹ »You have no use for knowledge and you refuse to respect Jehovah.

²⁹ »You have no use for knowledge and you refuse to respect Jehovah. ³⁰ »You rejected my advice and paid no attention when I warned you.

³⁰ »You rejected my advice and paid no attention when I warned you.

¹ My son, take my words to heart and treasure my commandments within you.

¹ My son, take my words to heart and treasure my commandments within you. ² Pay close attention to wisdom, and let your [mind and] heart (inner being) reach for discernment. ³ Call out for insight. Lift up your voice for understanding. ⁴ Search for wisdom as if it were silver. Hunt for it as if it were hidden treasure! ⁵ If you do these things you will have respect for Jehovah and you will find the true knowledge of God! ⁶ Jehovah gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He stores up insightful (sound) (substantial) wisdom for the upright. He is a shield for those who walk in integrity. ⁸ He guards those on paths of justice. He watches over the way of his godly ones. ⁹ You will understand righteousness and justice. You will have equity and every good course in life. ¹⁰ Wisdom enters your heart. Knowledge gives you pleasure. ¹¹ Discretion will protect you. Understanding will watch over you.

¹ My son, do not forget my law. Let your heart obey my commandments.

²¹ My son, do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion!

²¹ My son, do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion! ²² They will mean life to you and adornment to your neck.

²² They will mean life to you and adornment to your neck. ²³ You will walk in your way safely. Your foot will not stumble. ²⁴ When you lie down you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. ²⁵ Do not be afraid of sudden fear or trouble from the wicked when it comes. ²⁶ Jehovah will be your confidence. He will keep your foot from stumbling.

³⁴ He has no use for conceited people. He shows loving kindness to the humble.

¹ Listen my sons to what your father teaches you. Pay attention and gain understanding. ² I give you good instruction. Do not abandon my Law! ³ I was my father’s son, tender and the only son to my mother. ⁴ Father taught me. He said: »Remember my words in your heart. Obey my commandments and live. ⁵ »Achieve wisdom and understanding! Do not forget or ignore what I say. ⁶ »Do not abandon wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will keep you safe. ⁷ »Wisdom is the most important thing. So gain wisdom! And by all means arrive at understanding.

⁹ »She will present you with a crown of glory.«

¹⁴ Do not enter the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil men. ¹⁵ Avoid it! Do not pass by it. Turn away from it, and pass on! ¹⁶ They do not sleep unless they have done evil. Their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.

²⁷ Do not turn to the right or to the left. Remove your foot from evil.

¹ My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Listen to my understanding. ² That way you will maintain discretion and your lips will keep knowledge.

⁸ Keep far away from her. Do not go near the door of her house.

¹² You say: »How I have hated instruction! My heart despised reproof.

¹² You say: »How I have hated instruction! My heart despised reproof. ¹³ »I did not obey the voice of my teachers. I did not listen to my instructors!

²² His own iniquities will catch the wicked. He will be held with the cords of his sins. ²³ He dies without instruction. He goes astray because of his foolishness.

¹⁷ »I love those who love me. Those who earnestly seek me will find me.

³² »Listen to me, my children: for blessed are those who practice my ways.

³² »Listen to me, my children: for blessed are those who practice my ways. ³³ »Hear instruction, do not refuse it and be wise. ³⁴ »Blessed is the man who listens to me. He watches daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. ³⁵ »Those who find me find life. They will receive favor from Jehovah. ³⁶ »But he who sins against me wrongs himself. All who hate me love death.«

³ She sent her maidens. She cried on the highest places of the city, ⁴ »Who is simple? Let him turn in here! He who lacks understanding,« she says to him, ⁵ »Come eat my bread, and drink the wine that I have mixed. ⁶ »Forsake the foolish, and live. Travel in the way of understanding.«

⁶ »Forsake the foolish, and live. Travel in the way of understanding.«

⁹ Give instruction to a wise man and he will become even wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning (insight). ¹⁰ Respect for Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the holy One is understanding (discernment) (truth) (wisdom). ¹¹ I will increase your days. I will add more years to your life.

¹⁶ »Let the inexperienced (naïve) one come in here,« and to the person who lacks understanding she says: ¹⁷ »Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.« ¹⁸ He does not know the dead are there. Her guests are in the depths of the grave.

¹ A wise son makes a father glad: but a foolish son is sorrow (depression) (grief) for his mother.

¹⁷ He who regards instruction is in the way of life. He who refuses reproof goes (mentally and morally) astray.

²⁴ The fear of the wicked will come upon him. The desire of the righteous will be granted.

²⁴ The fear of the wicked will come upon him. The desire of the righteous will be granted. ²⁵ The whirlwind passes and the wicked is no more. The righteous has an everlasting foundation.

⁴ To give wisdom and refinement to the simple. To the young man knowledge and discretion.

⁷ Respect for Jehovah (YHWH) is the beginning of knowledge (truth) (understanding) (wisdom). Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners tempt you do not consent.

⁹ How long will you sleep, O lazy person? When will you arise from your sleep?

¹⁵ His disaster will come suddenly. Suddenly he is broken beyond repair.

¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run quickly to badness,

²⁰ My son, obey your father's command, and do not abandon the law of your mother:

²⁰ My son, obey your father's command, and do not abandon the law of your mother: ²¹ Constantly bind them upon your heart, and tie them about your neck.

²³ For the commandment is a lamp. The law is light. Reproofs for instruction are the way of life.

¹ My son, pay attention to my words, and preserve my commandments within you.

⁴ Say to wisdom: »You are my sister!« Call understanding your friend.

⁷ I saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man without understanding.

⁷ I saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth, a young man without understanding. ⁸ He passed through the street near her corner. He went to her house. ⁹ In the twilight, in the evening, in the darkness of the night: ¹⁰ He met an evil hearted woman dressed seductively like an immoral woman. ¹¹ She is loud and rebellious and never stays at home. ¹² Now in the streets and squares, she waits at every corner. ¹³ She put her arms around him and kissed him, and with an impudent look she said: ¹⁴ »I have peace offerings with me since I paid my vows. ¹⁵ »So I came to meet you and seek your presence. I found you. ¹⁶ »I covered my bed with fine linen from Egypt. ¹⁷ »I perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸ »Come; let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us comfort ourselves with love. ¹⁹ »My husband is not at home. He went on a long trip. ²⁰ »He took a bag of money with him. He will come home at the appointed day.« ²¹ She seduced him with her persuasive words. She forced him with her flattering lips.

²¹ She seduced him with her persuasive words. She forced him with her flattering lips. ²² He immediately goes after her. He is like a bull that goes to the slaughter. Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,

²² He immediately goes after her. He is like a bull that goes to the slaughter. Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, ²³ Till a dart strikes through his liver. The bird hurries to the snare without knowing it would cost his life.

²³ Till a dart strikes through his liver. The bird hurries to the snare without knowing it would cost his life.

²³ Till a dart strikes through his liver. The bird hurries to the snare without knowing it would cost his life. ²⁴ Listen to me dear sons and pay attention to the words of my mouth.

¹ Does wisdom cry out? Does understanding direct her voice? ² She takes her stand on top of high places and in the street intersections. ³ She cries out at the gates, at the entrance by the doors: ⁴ »I call to you men. My voice is to the sons of man. ⁵ »O you simple ones, understand wisdom and, you fools, be of an understanding heart.

⁵ »O you simple ones, understand wisdom and, you fools, be of an understanding heart.

¹⁰ »Receive my instruction and not silver. Take knowledge rather than choice gold. ¹¹ »For wisdom is better than pearls. Nothing desirable compares to it. ¹² »Wisdom dwells with discretion and it finds knowledge and sound judgment.

¹ Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. He that hates reproof is stupid.

⁶ The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

²⁰ The one who walks with wise men will be wise. A companion of fools will be destroyed.

⁶ A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it. Knowledge is easy to him who discerns.

¹⁴ The faithless in heart will be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from above.

²⁶ Respect for Jehovah builds strong confidence. Your children will have a place of refuge.

⁵ A fool despises his father's instruction, but he who accepts discipline is prudent.

¹⁶ Is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom? He has no sense!

² A fool (stupid person) does not like understanding when revealing his thoughts.

²⁹ Penalties are prepared for mockers, and beatings for the back of fools.

¹⁹ A gossip reveals secrets. So avoid a man who speaks flattering words.

¹¹ When the scoffer is punished the simple (naïve) is made wise. When the wise is instructed he gains knowledge.

¹ These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah transcribed.

¹² A scoffer hates the one who reproves him. He will not go to the wise.

²⁷ He who is greedy of gain troubles his own house. But he who hates gifts will live.

³³ Respect for Jehovah teaches wisdom. Before glory there is humility.

¹⁶ How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding instead of silver!

²⁹ A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him in bad ways.

⁸ He who sows unrighteousness will reap vanity. The rod of his anger will fail.

³ Do not crave his delicacies for it is deceptive food. ⁴ Do not exhaust yourself to get rich. Be wise and show restraint.

¹⁷ A violent and bloodthirsty man will run to the pit; let no man help him.

¹ He who is often reprimanded and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

¹⁴ There is a generation, whose teeth are like swords, and their jaw teeth like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

¹⁷ The eye that mocks his father, and rejects obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley pick it out, and the young eagles eat it.

¹ The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.

¹ The words of the Preacher (assembler) (lecturer), the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun. I have seen riches being hoarded by their owner to his downfall (distress).

⁹ Rejoice, O young man, in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in your early days. Walk in the ways of your heart, and in the desires of your eyes. Yet you know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

⁹ Moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. He gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like prodding goads, and like nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. They are given from one shepherd.

¹³ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Respect God, and obey his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁰ »Your cheeks are lovely with jewels and your neck with chains of gold.«

⁹ »You have ravished my heart, my sister, and my spouse. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain around your neck.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous that blessings will come to them. They will taste the fruit of their labor. ¹¹ How horrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster will strike them. What they have done to others will be done to them.

¹⁹ pendants, bracelets, scarves,

¹³ The nations will rush like the raging of many waters. But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away. They will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling dust before the whirlwind.

¹¹ When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For they have no understanding (discernment). Their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

⁹ These people are rebellious and deceitful children. They refuse to listen to Jehovah’s Law. ¹⁰ They say to the seers: »Do not see the future.« They say to those who have visions: ‘Do not have visions that tell us what is right. Tell us what we want to hear. Prophesy illusions. ¹¹ »‘Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path! Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.’« ¹² This is what the Holy One of Israel says: »You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and you leaned upon them for support.

¹⁵ The Spirit will be poured out upon us from on high. Then the wilderness will be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered a forest.

³ »The bull knows its owner, and donkey knows where its master feeds it. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand!«

¹⁵ »When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are full of blood.

¹³ »‘The king of Assyria says: By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom and understanding I have done it! I am prudent! Also I have removed the boundaries of the nations. I have robbed their treasuries. I have brought down people like a mighty man! ¹⁴ »‘I found the riches of nations as one finds a nest. I gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs. Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.’«

³ You will keep the steadfast mind in perfect peace, because he trusts (hopes) in you.

⁸ There will be a highway there, called: »The Road of Holiness.« No sinner will ever travel that road. No fools will mislead those who follow it.

¹⁸ »If only you had listened to my commandments! Your peace would be like a river that never runs dry. Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea.

² »Why was no one here when I came? Why was no one here to answer when I called? Am I too weak to reclaim you? Do I not have the power to rescue you? I dry up the sea with my command, and I turn rivers into deserts. Their fish stink because there is no water, and people die of thirst.

¹ Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water. You, who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ² Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. ³ Give ear and come to me; listen to me, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

³ Give ear and come to me; listen to me, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

⁶ Seek Jehovah while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to Jehovah, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ »Rain down from above, you heavens, and pour down righteousness, you skies. Let the earth open. Let salvation and righteousness sprout. Let them spring up for I Jehovah have created them.«

⁷ Their feet run to do evil. They hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil. Ruin and destruction are on their highways.

¹² »I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter! I called but you did not answer. I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.«

⁴ »Therefore I will choose harsh treatment for them and bring on them what they fear. I called, but no one answered. I spoke, but they did not listen. They did what I consider evil. They chose what I do not like.«

¹⁹ »Your own wickedness will correct you. Your apostasies (unfaithful ways) will punish you! You should know and see how evil and bitter it is for you when you abandon Jehovah your God! You do not respect (reverence) me,« says the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts.

¹⁴ ‘Return, you disobedient people, proclaims Jehovah. I am your husband. I will take you, one from every city and two from every family, and bring you to Zion.’

²⁶ »Wicked men are found among my people. They lie in ambush like bird catchers. They set traps and catch men.

¹⁹ »Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people as the fruit of their plans. This is because they have not listened to my words, and have rejected my law.

¹³ »For the reason that you did all these things,« says Jehovah, »I spoke to you. I rose up early and spoke. But you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer.

⁷ »Even storks know when it is time to return. Mourning doves, swallows (swifts), and cranes know when it is time to migrate. But my people do not know that I, Jehovah, am urging them to return.

⁹ »Wise people are put to shame, confused, and trapped. They have rejected the word of Jehovah. They do not really have any wisdom.

¹¹ »‘Therefore Jehovah says: ‘I am going to bring a disaster on them that they cannot escape. Although they will cry out to me, I will not listen to them.

¹⁹ I was like an unquestioning lamb brought to the slaughter. I did not know that they were plotting against me. They were saying: »Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut Jeremiah off from this world of the living so that we will not be reminded of him anymore.«

¹⁰ This is what Jehovah says about these people: »They love to wander. They do not keep their feet where they belong. Therefore Jehovah is not happy with them. He will remember their crimes and punish their sins.«

¹² »Even if they go without food, I will not listen to their cries for help. Even if they sacrifice burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. But I will destroy these people with wars, famines, and plagues.«

¹⁸ Then they said: »Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise man, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike him with our tongue, and let us pay no attention to any of his words.« ¹⁹ Do pay close attention to me, O Jehovah! Listen to what my opponents are saying! ²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf. I tried to turn away your wrath from them.

¹⁶ He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy. Then it was well. »Is that not what it means to know me?« Says Jehovah. ¹⁷ »Your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain. You are shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion.«

¹⁷ »Your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain. You are shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion.« ¹⁸ Therefore Jehovah tells us about Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: »They will not cry for him: ‘Alas, my brother!’ And, ‘Alas, sister!’ They will not mourn him: ‘Alas for the master!’ And, »Alas for his splendor!« ¹⁹ He will be buried with a donkey's burial. He will be dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

¹¹ Jehovah said: »Moab has always lived secure and has never been taken into exile. Moab is like wine left to settle undisturbed and never poured from jar to jar. Its flavor has never been ruined, and it tastes as good as ever. ¹² »‘So now, the time is coming when I will send people to pour Moab out like wine. They will empty its wine jars and break them in pieces.

³⁴ »The people of Jerusalem say: King Nebuchadnezzar made us panic. That monster (big snake) filled up with our treasures, leaving us empty. He gobbled down what he wanted and spit out the rest.

⁵ Jehovah has become like an enemy fighting against her, sending destruction on Israel. He has sent destruction on all her great houses, turning his strong places into waste. He increases the grief and the sorrow of the daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ All your enemies are opening their mouths wide against you. They hiss and whistle through their teeth and say: »We have made a meal of her. Certainly this is the day we have been looking for. It has come and we see it.«

¹⁸ »They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy (my eye will not feel sorry). They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can. But I will not listen to them«

¹¹ »‘I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck.’«

²⁷ ‘»When a wicked person turns away from the wicked things that he has done and does what is fair and right, he will live. ²⁸ ‘»He realized what he was doing and turned away from all the rebellious things that he had done. He will certainly live. He will not die. ²⁹ ‘»But the nation of Israel says: Jehovah’s way is unfair. Is my way not fair, nation of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unfair? ³⁰ ‘»That is why I will judge each of you by what you have done, people of Israel, declares the Lord Jehovah. Change the way you think and act. (Repent!) Turn away from all the rebellious things that you have done so that you will not fall into sin.

¹¹ Say to them: ‘»As I am alive!« Declares the Lord Jehovah. »I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Only that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back! Turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?«’

⁷ The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. / The king spoke to the wise men of Babylon: »Whoever reads this writing, and shows me the interpretation of it will be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck. He will be the third ruler in the kingdom«.

¹⁶ »I have heard that you can give interpretations and dissolve doubts. If you can read the writing and make the interpretation known to me you will be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and will be the third ruler in the kingdom.«

²⁹ Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

¹⁵ »I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek me. They will seek me earnestly in their affliction.«

²⁸ »In the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions! (Ac 2:17; Isa 44:3)

¹ »Return, O Israel, to Jehovah your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

¹ »Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning comes they do it because they are able to (it is in the power of their hands). ² »They covet fields and seize them. They covet houses and confiscate them! They oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.« ³ Therefore Jehovah says: »Behold, against this family I plan bad things, from which you will not remove the burden. You will not be able to show pride for it is an evil time.

² »You hate good and love evil! You rip off their skin and their flesh from off their bones! ³ »You eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them! You break their bones, and chop them in pieces similar to the contents of a pot or a caldron. ⁴ »They will cry to Jehovah but he will not answer them. In fact, he will hide his face from them at that time because they have done evil things.«

¹⁰ They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with immorality. ¹¹ The leaders judge for a bribe, and the priests teach for wages! The prophets predict for money yet they rely on Jehovah when they say: »Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? No evil will come upon us.« ¹² It is your fault that Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become heaps of ruin, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

² The godly (loyal) (holy) man has perished from the earth. There is none upright among men! They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his own brother with a net.

³ Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power! He will by no means reprieve the guilty (leave them unpunished). Jehovah has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. The clouds are the dust of his feet.

¹² The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses. He filled his caves and dens with prey.

⁹ »He who receives a dishonest profit for his house will have trouble. He may set his nest on high in order to be delivered from the hand of evil!

⁹ »The glory of this house will be greater than it was before. I will give my people peace.« Jehovah of Hosts has spoken.

¹¹ »They refused to pay heed, turned a stubborn shoulder (resisted), and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. ¹² »They made their hearts hard like flint and would not listen to the law, and the words that Jehovah of Hosts sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Great anger came from Jehovah of Hosts!« ¹³ »‘I cried, and they would not listen. Now they will cry, and I will not listen,’ said Jehovah of Hosts!

¹⁰ »I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of kindness and of supplication. They will look to the one whom they pierced; and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son. There will be a bitter lamentation for him, like one who grieves for his first-born.

²² »Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ »I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of evil.’

² A man on a bed, a paralytic, was brought to Jesus. Seeing their faith Jesus said to the sick man: »Have courage; your sins are forgiven.«

¹³ »You should learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’; for I came, not to call the righteous, but sinners.«

²² Jesus turned to see her and said: »Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.« The woman was healed at that time.

²⁷ »The things I tell you in darkness, speak in the light. Proclaim everything you hear from on top of the house.

² Large crowds gathered to him. He entered a boat while the crowd stood on the shore.

¹⁰ The disciples asked him: »Why do you speak in illustrations?« ¹¹ He responded: »You are allowed to know the divine secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but it is not for others to know. (The Greek word for »you« is plural and is applied to the disciples as a group.) ¹² »He who has shall receive more to the point of abundance. He who does not have, it shall be taken away including that which he has. ¹³ »I speak to them in illustrations (stories) (parables) (allegories), because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear. They just do not understand. ¹⁴ »The prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled. ‘By hearing, you shall hear, and shall in no way understand. By seeing you shall see, and shall in no way perceive. ¹⁵ »‘The heart of this people is callous and dull. Their ears are plugged. They cannot hear. They closed their eyes and cannot see. They cannot see nor hear nor understand with their heart. They should turn around and I would heal them.’ ¹⁶ »Happy and blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷ »Truly, I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things that you see, and could not see them. They also desired to hear the things that you hear, and could not hear them.

³⁴ Jesus spoke with illustrations to the crowds. He did not speak anything without using illustrations. ³⁵ That which was spoken through the prophet was fulfilled, saying: »I will open my mouth in illustrations. I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.«

²⁹ »Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. I am meek (mild) and humble in heart. You will have a restful life, ³⁰ »for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.«

⁵¹ »Have you understood all these things?« They said to him: »Yes.« ⁵² And he said to them: »Every scribe (journalist) (writer) who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.«

⁵⁴ He went to his own country and taught in the synagogue. They were astonished and asked where this man got this wisdom and these mighty works.

⁵ »But they paid no attention and went about their business. One went to his farm and another went to his trade. ⁶ »The rest violently attacked his servants and put them to death.

³⁷ »Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone the messengers who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. But you were not willing!

³⁷ »Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone the messengers who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. But you were not willing! ³⁸ »Behold, your house is left desolate.

¹⁰ »While they were away, the bridegroom came. They that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. ¹¹ »Later the other virgins came, saying: ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ ¹² »But he told them: ‘I do not know you.’

⁴ He said: »I have done wrong in giving a righteous man to you.« ⁵ He left the silver in the Temple. Then he went away and hanged himself.

⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud, saying: »This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.«

¹⁷ Jesus answered: »You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.«

³ The chief priest and the elders of the people assembled at the court of Caiaphas, the high priest. ⁴ All of them, using deceit, worked together to capture Jesus and kill him.

¹¹ He told them: »The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you. Illustrations are spoken to outsiders.

³⁴ He spoke only with illustrations. However he made all things clear to his disciples in private.

³⁰ The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God and were not baptized by him.

⁴² »However one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the proper way and it shall not be taken away from her.«

¹³ »If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?«

⁴⁹ »It is for this reason the wisdom of God said, ‘I send to them prophets and apostles and they will persecute and kill some of them.’

¹⁵ Jesus said: »Be careful, do not covet, for life does not come from your possessions.« ¹⁶ He spoke an illustration to them: »The land of a rich man produced well. ¹⁷ »He reasoned to himself, what will I do? I have nowhere to store my fruits? ¹⁸ »He said: »I would pull down my barns and build larger barns. I will store all my grain and goods there. ¹⁹ »I will say to my self: ‘You have many possessions saved for many years. Take it easy and eat, drink and be merry.’ ²⁰ »But God said to him: ‘You fool this night you will give up your life. Then who will have all these things you accumulated?’ ²¹ »He who lays up (earthly) treasure for himself is not rich toward God.«

¹⁹ »A rich man dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day. ²⁰ »A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, used to be brought to the rich man’s door. ²¹ »He hoped he could eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man’s table. Then the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²² »The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died and was buried. ²³ »He was in great torment in the grave (hades). He looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ »He called out: Father Abraham! Take pity on me! Please send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue. I am in torment in this fire! ²⁵ »Abraham said: Remember, my son, in your lifetime you were given good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. Now he is enjoying himself while you are in torment.

²⁵ »The master of the house will close the door. You stand outside and knock on the door and say: ‘Open the door for us, sir!’ He will answer: ‘I do not know where you come from!’ ²⁶ »Then you will answer, we ate and drank with you. You taught in our town! ²⁷ »Again he will say: ‘I do not know where you come from. Get away from me, you wicked people!’ ²⁸ »You will cry and grind your teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, while you are thrown out!

¹⁸ »They all made excuses one after another. The first one told the servant: ‘I bought a field and must go and look at it. Please accept my apologies.’ ¹⁹ »Another said: ‘I purchased five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.’ ²⁰ »Another explained: ‘I am newly married and I cannot come.’

²⁴ »None of those who were invited will taste my dinner!« He said.

⁴² He said: »If you only knew today the things needed to bring peace! But they are hidden from your eyes.

⁹ »When you hear of wars and disturbances do not be terrified. These things must occur first. The end is not immediate.«

¹⁹ »You will gain your lives because of your endurance.

²³ »Woe to those who are pregnant and those who nurse a child in those days! There will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people. ²⁴ »They will be killed by the edge of the sword. Some will be led captive into all the nations. The people of the nations will tread down Jerusalem until the time of the Nations is fulfilled. ²⁵ »There will be signs in sun and moon and stars. The earth will experience distress of nations in disarray for the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶ »Men will faint out of fear for expectation of the things coming on the world. The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

³⁴ »Be awake so your hearts are not weighed down. Do not allow the weight of worldly involvement, drunkenness, and cares of this life be a snare when that day suddenly comes. ³⁵ »It will come as a surprise to all who dwell on the face of the earth.

¹⁸ »He who has an active faith in him is not judged. He who does not have an active faith has been judged already for he has not had faith in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ »This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world. People loved the darkness rather than the light for their works were evil. ²⁰ »Every one who does evil hates the light. He does not come to the light because his works would be reproved.

²⁰ »Every one who does evil hates the light. He does not come to the light because his works would be reproved. ²¹ »He who practices the truth comes to the light. His works are made known that they are from God.«

³⁶ »He who puts active faith in the Son has everlasting life. He who disobeys* the Son will not see life for the wrath of God remains upon him.« (*Greek: apeitheo: willfully disobey, not having faith)

³⁶ »What is this word that he said: ‘You will seek me, and will not find me; and you cannot come where I am going?’« ³⁷ On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and shouted in a loud voice: »If any man thirst let him come to me and drink.

³⁷ On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and shouted in a loud voice: »If any man thirst let him come to me and drink.

²⁷ »My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. ²⁸ »I give them eternal life. They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ »My Father has given them to me. He is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

²⁵ »This took place that the word written in the Law may be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause.

²⁵ »I have spoken to you in figurative language (illustrations and proverbs). The hour comes when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language. I will tell you plainly from the Father.

²⁰ Jesus answered him: »I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple where all the Jews gathered. I spoke nothing in secret.

³⁶ »Therefore let all the house of Israel know for sure that God has made that same Jesus, whom you impaled, both Lord and Christ.« (Acts 10:36) ³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were stabbed to the heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles: »Men and brothers, what shall we do?« ³⁸ Then Peter said: »Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ »Repent therefore, and turn around, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times (seasons) of refreshing shall come from the presence of Jehovah. (Deuteronomy 18:18, 19)

³⁰ »You extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders appear in the name of your holy servant Jesus.«

⁵¹ »You obstinate men who are uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. ⁵² »Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They killed those who announced in advance the coming of the righteous one whom you have betrayed and murdered. ⁵³ »You have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not obeyed it.« ⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. They gnashed their teeth at him.

¹⁹ Simon said: »Give me this power that on whomever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.« ²⁰ Peter said to him: »Your money will perish with you, because you think that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

³⁰ Philip ran to him, heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said: »Do you understand what you are reading?« ³¹ »How can I«, the eunuch said: »unless someone explains it to me?« He invited Philip to come and sit with him.

²⁰ »Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the sayings about this life.«

²⁰ »I preached first to Damascus, and to Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the people of the nations, that they should repent and turn to God, and prove their repentance by deeds.

¹⁵ »Now therefore you, with the Sanhedrin, inform the commander that he bring him down to you tomorrow. You say you would inquire some more regarding him. We are ready to put him to death before he comes near.«

³ They desired favor against him that he would transfer him to Jerusalem. Then they would ambush him along the way and kill him.

²⁸ They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over to a reprobate (depraved) mind, to do things that are not fitting.

⁹ [There will be] tribulation and distress on every person who works evil, for the Jew first and for the Greek.

⁵ If our unrighteousness defines God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his anger is he? I speak in human terms.

¹³ »Their throat is an open grave. They have practiced deceit with their tongues. The poison of snakes is under their lips.« (Psalm 5:9)

³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ It is written: »For your sake we are put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep for the slaughter.« (Psalm 44:22) ³⁷ In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 6:12)

²¹ But to Israel he says: »All day long I have stretched out my hands to a people who are disobedient and self-willed (obstinate).« (Isaiah 65:1, 2)

¹⁸ They do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the unaware.

²⁴ To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, it is Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

³⁰ It is because of him you are united with Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

¹⁷ Therefore come out from among them and be separate (set off) (severed from them) (excluded from them), said Jehovah. Do not touch the unclean thing and I will receive you. (Isaiah 52:11) (Jeremiah 51:45)

¹⁵ I speak as to wise men. You judge what I say.

⁷ Do not be deceived. God is not mocked! A man will harvest what he sows. ⁸ He that sows to his own flesh will harvest corruption of the flesh. But he that sows to the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.

¹¹ Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead reprove (expose) (convict) them.

³ In him is concealed all the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.

³ When they say, »Peace and security!« then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come to a pregnant woman. They will not escape.

⁹ Those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts. These draw men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some by longing for it have been led away from the faith. They have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

⁵ I am mindful of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

²² Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a clean heart.

¹⁵ From childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to make you wise to salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ God inspired all Scripture! It is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. (Greek: theopneustos: God-breathed) ¹⁷ Thus the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work.

⁹ Likewise I want women to be adorned in modest clothing, with modesty and soundness of mind; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly clothes; ¹⁰ but that which becomes a woman professing godliness through good works.

³ not addicted to wine, not quarrelsome; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money;

⁶ Urge the younger men to be sound in mind.

¹⁴ But solid food belongs to mature people. It belongs to those who by reason of use have their senses trained to know the difference between good and evil.

³⁸ »My righteous people will live by faith. If any of them turn back, I will not be pleased with them.« ³⁹ We are not people who turn back and are destroyed. Instead, we have faith and are saved.

²⁵ He chose to share the bad treatment with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

⁸ If you are without discipline, you are illegitimate children, and not sons.

²⁵ Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!

²⁵ Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! ²⁶ His voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised: »I will once more shake not only the earth but also heaven.«

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and your silver are rusted. Their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You stored up your treasure in the last days. ⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts. ⁵ You lived in luxury on the earth, and take your pleasure; you nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁵ You are protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

³ They speak evil words about you because of their extreme greed. They will exploit you with false evil words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle. Their destruction will not delay.

¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin! They entice unsteady persons. Their hearts are full of covetousness. They are children of cursing. ¹⁵ They went astray, forsaking the right way. They followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing. ¹⁶ He was rebuked for his own transgression. A beast of burden spoke with a man's voice and restrained (hindered) the madness of the prophet.

³ Know this first, that in the last days, mockers will come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,

¹⁶ He spoke about these things in his letters. Some things are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable distort them as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly (with bad motives) that you may spend it on your pleasures.

³ Your appearance should not come from the outward adornment, things like braiding the hair, and wearing jewels of gold, or wearing fine apparel. ⁴ Let your appearance be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit. This is of great value in the sight of God.

¹⁶ »'Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ »'You say, «I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing." You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ¹⁸ »'I counsel you to buy gold from me, gold purified by fire, so that you may be rich; and white clothing, so that you may be clothed. In this way the shame of your nakedness will not appear. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, so that you may see. ¹⁹ »'I reprove and discipline those whom I love: be zealous therefore, and repent.

¹⁵ The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the military commanders, and the mighty men, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They said to the mountains and rocks: »Fall on us, and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷ »For the great day of his wrath has come; and who will be able to stand?«

⁹ »The kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her, when they see the smoke of her burning. ¹⁰ »They will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, and say: 'Woe, woe to the great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.' ¹¹ »The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her. For no man buys their merchandise any more. ¹² »The merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones, and of pearls, fine linen, purple and silk, scarlet, and everything in scented wood, all manner of ivory and all manner of most precious wood, of brass and iron and marble, ¹³ »cinnamon, odors and ointments, frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour, wheat, beasts, and sheep and horses, chariots and slaves and humans ¹⁴ »The fruits that you desired have departed from you. All things that were dainty and wonderful have departed from you. You will find them no more at all. ¹⁵ »The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing. ¹⁶ »They will say: 'Woe, woe to the great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say: »Come« And let him who hears say: »Come.« And let him who is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him drink the water of life freely.