Proverbs 14 Cross References - WEB

¹ Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands. ² He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him. ³ The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them. ⁴ Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox. ⁵ A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies. ⁶ A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person. ⁷ Stay away from a foolish man, for you won’t find knowledge on his lips. ⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. ⁹ Fools mock at making atonement for sins, but among the upright there is good will. ¹⁰ The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger. ¹¹ The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish. ¹² There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. ¹³ Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness. ¹⁴ The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways. ¹⁵ A simple man believes everything, but the prudent man carefully considers his ways. ¹⁶ A wise man fears and shuns evil, but the fool is hot headed and reckless. ¹⁷ He who is quick to become angry will commit folly, and a crafty man is hated. ¹⁸ The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ¹⁹ The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. ²⁰ The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends. ²¹ He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has pity on the poor is blessed. ²² Don’t they go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good. ²³ In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty. ²⁴ The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools crowns them with folly. ²⁵ A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful. ²⁶ In the fear of Yahweh is a secure fortress, and he will be a refuge for his children. ²⁷ The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death. ²⁸ In the multitude of people is the king’s glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince. ²⁹ He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly. ³⁰ The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones. ³¹ He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him. ³² The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge. ³³ Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, and is even made known in the inward part of fools. ³⁴ Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. ³⁵ The king’s favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.

¹¹ All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.

³¹ As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.

²⁴ The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field.” ²⁵ But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

¹ Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.

¹³ The foolish woman is loud, undisciplined, and knows nothing. ¹⁴ She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, ¹⁵ to call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways,

¹³ A foolish son is the calamity of his father. A wife’s quarrels are a continual dripping.

⁹ It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than to share a house with a contentious woman.

¹⁹ It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.

³ Through wisdom a house is built; by understanding it is established; ⁴ by knowledge the rooms are filled with all rare and beautiful treasure.

¹⁰ Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies. ¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain. ¹² She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. ¹³ She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands. ¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar. ¹⁵ She rises also while it is yet night, gives food to her household, and portions for her servant girls. ¹⁶ She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. ¹⁷ She arms her waist with strength, and makes her arms strong. ¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp doesn’t go out by night. ¹⁹ She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. ²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor; yes, she extends her hands to the needy. ²¹ She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet. ²² She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. ²³ Her husband is respected in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. ²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers sashes to the merchant. ²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come. ²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom. Kind instruction is on her tongue. ²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household, and doesn’t eat the bread of idleness. ²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her: ²⁹ “Many women do noble things, but you excel them all.” ³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised. ³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands! Let her works praise her in the gates!

⁶ Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

⁴ I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

²⁸ To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”

²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

¹ Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in his commandments.

³ Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. ⁴ Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.

¹⁵ who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,

¹² One who despises his neighbor is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding holds his peace.

¹⁷ The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul.

¹ Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in his lips and is a fool.

⁶ Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, than he who is perverse in his ways, and he is rich.

¹³ This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

⁵ “My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. ⁶ The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

¹⁶ Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.

³¹ So the assemblies throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

²² They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.”

³⁵ but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

⁴ Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,

³ “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed.

²¹ You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

³ May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts,

¹⁸ Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.” Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God’s loving kindness endures continually. ² Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

⁴ My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

⁶ The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁶ A fool’s lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

²⁴ The proud and arrogant man—“Scoffer” is his name— he works in the arrogance of pride.

⁸ He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

²⁵ One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in Yahweh will prosper.

²⁰ and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows.

⁹ that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart, one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation.

⁵ So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

¹⁸ For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;

¹⁰ Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹ They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.

⁵ After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. ⁶ The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out, clothed with pure, bright linen, and wearing golden sashes around their breasts.

²³ An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.

⁶ “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.

⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares, ¹⁰ or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. ¹¹ If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹ “You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

¹³ The two men, the wicked fellows, came in and sat before him. The wicked fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones.

¹² All the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king.” ¹³ The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “See now, the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.” ¹⁴ Micaiah said, “As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak.”

¹⁹ a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

¹⁷ He who is truthful testifies honestly, but a false witness lies.

⁵ A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.

²⁵ A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful.

⁵ A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.

⁹ A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who utters lies shall perish.

¹⁸ Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.

⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me. ⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.

⁹ They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.

²⁴ Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

² A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

¹² Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²⁰ Turn to the law and to the covenant! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

⁹ The wise men are disappointed. They are dismayed and trapped. Behold, they have rejected Yahweh’s word. What kind of wisdom is in them?

²² “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁵ At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. ²⁷ All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

¹¹ He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. ¹² For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

²¹ Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. ²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. ²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves; ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. ²⁶ For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. ²⁷ Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. ²⁸ Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

³¹ but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. ³² Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”

² But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.

⁵ But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

³ knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” ⁵ For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God,

⁶ Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.”

²⁰ One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²⁷ If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

¹¹ But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person.

¹¹ Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.

¹⁰ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

⁵ Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes!

³⁴ Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart. ³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.

⁷³ YUD Your hands have made me and formed me. Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.

⁸ Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.

⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

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

¹⁸ Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.

²⁰ Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

¹⁹ I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

²² that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit,

¹⁷ Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

⁹ For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,

¹³ But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁵ From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

¹⁶ how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

⁷ What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water, ⁸ Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men? ⁹ For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’

²² “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

⁴ So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

³⁵ For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh.

²³ It is a fool’s pleasure to do wickedness, but wisdom is a man of understanding’s pleasure.

² A good man shall obtain favor from Yahweh, but he will condemn a man of wicked plans.

¹⁵ Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard.

¹⁸ Like a madman who shoots torches, arrows, and death, ¹⁹ is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not joking?”

²⁰ “So is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

¹⁷ for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.”

²¹ They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”

¹⁰ She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly.

²⁷ When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

² “Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! ³ For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash. ⁴ For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

¹¹ “Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁸ He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

¹ “My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

¹⁴ The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.

¹³ A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but an aching heart breaks the spirit.

¹⁴ A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.

³³ He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed. ³⁴ He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch.”

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause.

¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

²³ Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.

⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

⁸ whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory,

¹⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.

⁶ If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

¹⁵ He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it, but it will not endure.

³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.

¹⁴ He will be rooted out of the security of his tent. He will be brought to the king of terrors. ¹⁵ There will dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur will be scattered on his habitation.

²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”

²⁶ All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will rise up against him. ²⁸ The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.

²⁸ For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

¹³ “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty. ¹⁴ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring will not be satisfied with bread. ¹⁵ Those who remain of him will be buried in death. His widows will make no lamentation. ¹⁶ Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; ¹⁷ he may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver. ¹⁸ He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes. ¹⁹ He lies down rich, but he will not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not. ²⁰ Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night. ²¹ The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place. ²² For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand. ²³ Men will clap their hands at him, and will hiss him out of his place.

² His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed. ³ Wealth and riches are in his house. His righteousness endures forever.

³ Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.

³³ Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

²⁸ He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.

⁷ The wicked are overthrown, and are no more, but the house of the righteous shall stand.

¹² The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.

²⁰ There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swallows it up.

¹¹ and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail. ¹² Those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations. You will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.

⁴ I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”

²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

¹⁵ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel.

²⁵ There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

¹² There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.

¹³ “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it.

²⁴ “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.

²¹ What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

³ For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

²² But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

⁴ but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

² I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”

¹⁰ Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. ¹¹ Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

⁵ It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. ⁶ For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

⁹ Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

²⁵ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.

⁹ Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

⁷ However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ ⁸ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

³¹ Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes. ³² For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.

¹⁴ A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth. The work of a man’s hands shall be rewarded to him.

¹⁰ The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger.

¹⁹ “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

⁵ Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return.

⁵ Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.

³¹ Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁶ For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.

⁶ those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.

¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

¹² For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.

⁴ But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.

⁸ For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

¹² Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”

²⁶ Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.

⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.

³ A prudent man sees danger and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹² A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³ Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

⁷ who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.

¹⁸ For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent. ¹⁹ For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil.

¹⁴ that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

¹ Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

⁹ Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.”

¹⁸ Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.

² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!”

¹⁰ Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.” ¹¹ The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’”

¹⁸ He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.”

¹⁵ But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.

²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, ²² then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone. ²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

¹⁴ Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.

¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you. I am afraid of your judgments.

⁷ Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

²² He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

⁶ By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of Yahweh men depart from evil.

¹⁴ Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

⁹ If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.

¹³ The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her. ¹⁸ For John said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t,

²⁴ She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.” ²⁵ She came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.”

⁴⁰ Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

²² Abstain from every form of evil.

⁶ But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.

⁵ Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, “Who is he, and where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?” ⁶ Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

¹⁶ A fool shows his annoyance the same day, but one who overlooks an insult is prudent.

²⁹ He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.

¹⁸ A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.

³² One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

²⁴ Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man, and don’t associate with one who harbors anger:

²² An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.

⁹ Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

⁷ The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.

²⁶ For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. ²⁷ As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. ²⁸ They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy. ²⁹ “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁹ So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

³⁵ The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.

⁷ Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding. ⁸ Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor when you embrace her. ⁹ She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”

²⁹ He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. The foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart. ³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.

¹⁹ Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

¹⁷ But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

³ Those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the expanse. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

⁸ From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

¹⁸ knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,

⁴ When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.

⁶ Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.

²⁸ They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed down humbly.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat Yahweh, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Yahweh.”

²⁷ Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. ²⁸ Pray to Yahweh; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

⁸ All these servants of yours will come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, “Get out, with all the people who follow you;” and after that I will go out.’” He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

³⁶ It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

¹² Jehoshaphat said, “Yahweh’s word is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

⁷ The king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. ⁸ Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

¹⁴ They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.

²⁹ He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. The foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart.

¹⁴ The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you Yahweh’s City, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

⁹ I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see his righteousness. ¹⁰ Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.

¹⁶ The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. ¹⁷ They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God, and will be afraid because of you.

³ You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.

³⁹ and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.

⁹ Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

² All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down, and paid homage to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.

¹⁰ Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home. There, he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife. ¹¹ Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

²¹ For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. ²² Did I say, ‘Give to me?’ or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’ ²³ or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’ or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’

¹³ “He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. ¹⁴ My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁰ They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.

¹⁵ The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

⁴ Wealth adds many friends, but the poor is separated from his friend.

⁶ Many will entreat the favor of a ruler, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. ⁷ All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him! He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.

¹³ “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me, ¹⁴ what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him? ¹⁵ Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

⁵ Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. ⁶ If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

²⁴ For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, Neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil. ² Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

⁵ It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.

⁹ He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.

²⁴ There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. ²⁵ The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.

³¹ He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

⁵ Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.

³ When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

¹⁷ He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.

²⁷ One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.

¹ Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days. ² Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don’t know what evil will be on the earth.

⁷ Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? ⁸ Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly; ¹⁰ and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;

²⁷ Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.”

³⁴ Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. ³⁶ I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? ³⁸ When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ ⁴⁰ “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ ⁴⁵ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again. ³¹ “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much. ³⁵ But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. ³⁶ “Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.

⁹ He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.

³⁵ In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

¹² that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?

¹⁷ But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? ¹⁸ My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him, ²⁰ because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; ²² so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

²⁷ He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”

⁸ But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart;

¹⁰ All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

⁷ He shall be enthroned in God’s presence forever. Appoint your loving kindness and truth, that they may preserve him.

²⁹ Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.

¹⁷ He who is quick to become angry will commit folly, and a crafty man is hated.

²² That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. A poor man is better than a liar.

⁷ The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. ⁸ But the noble devises noble things; and he will continue in noble things.

⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ One winking with the eye causes sorrow, but a chattering fool will fall.

²⁴ The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

¹⁹ One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

³ For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words.

²⁷ Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”

¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone is not willing to work, don’t let him eat.” ¹¹ For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies. ¹² Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they work with quietness and eat their own bread.

¹³ Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.

¹⁰ For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. ¹¹ We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end,

¹⁰ For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. ¹¹ Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. ¹² But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish. ¹³ This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

²² Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

¹¹ Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun. ¹² For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

⁶ There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.

⁹ I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

¹⁹ “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. ²⁰ A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, ²¹ and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. ²³ In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. ²⁴ He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.

⁵ A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies.

²¹ testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

²⁶ Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men, ²⁷ for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

¹⁶ But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you; ¹⁷ delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ ¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

¹ But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, ² through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, ³ forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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

⁴² Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”

⁷ Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. ⁸ Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. ⁹ Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him. ¹⁰ The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing. ¹¹ Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

⁶ For he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. ⁷ He will not be afraid of evil news. His heart is steadfast, trusting in Yahweh. ⁸ His heart is established. He will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries.

¹³ He will bless those who fear Yahweh, both small and great. ¹⁴ May Yahweh increase you more and more, you and your children.

⁷ Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil. ⁸ It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones.

²⁵ Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes; ²⁶ for Yahweh will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken.

¹⁰ Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

²³ The fear of Yahweh leads to life, then contentment; he rests and will not be touched by trouble.

¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also don’t withdraw your hand from that; for he who fears God will come out of them all.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past. ²¹ For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

¹¹ Yahweh said, “Most certainly I will strengthen you for good. Most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good, and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

¹⁶ Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name. ¹⁷ They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. ¹⁸ Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

² But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.

⁵ The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

¹⁰ For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. ¹¹ Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you, ¹² to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things, ¹³ who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, ¹⁴ who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil, ¹⁵ who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths, ¹⁶ to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words, ¹⁷ who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God; ¹⁸ for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.

¹⁴ The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked: whoever guards his soul stays from them.

²⁶ I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

⁶ He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.

¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel.

²² Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

²⁰ Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. ²¹ Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²⁷ The children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and went against them. The children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats; but the Syrians filled the country.

³² In those days Yahweh began to cut away parts of Israel; and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel; ³³ from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

⁷ For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.

³ Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the surface of the earth.

⁸ Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.

¹¹ The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger. It is his glory to overlook an offense.

²⁴ Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man, and don’t associate with one who harbors anger: ²⁵ lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul.

⁸ Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?

²⁸ Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint.

⁶ Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹ Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. ²² Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ²³ These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. ²⁴ Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his counselors, “Didn’t we cast three men bound into the middle of the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” ²⁵ He answered, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.

⁴ Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, ⁵ doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;

¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

² For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.

¹⁰ The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.

⁸⁰ Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed.

⁸ It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones.

²³ Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

⁴ A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, but a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.

²² A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

⁹ “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

⁷ For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?

¹³ “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me, ¹⁴ what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him? ¹⁵ Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶ “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

⁵ “Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”

²¹ He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has pity on the poor is blessed.

² The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all.

¹⁶ Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.

²² Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court; ²³ for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

⁸ If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them.

⁸ For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

⁷ But as you abound in everything, in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that you also abound in this grace. ⁸ I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

¹⁷ But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? ¹⁸ My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him, ²⁰ because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God;

²¹ This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.

¹⁸ I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.

¹⁵ Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

¹⁸ He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

²⁵ But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. ²⁶ After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh, ²⁷ whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.

²⁰ Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night. ²¹ The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place. ²² For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand.

¹¹ You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

¹⁵ As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

³⁷ Mark the perfect man, and see the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.

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

¹⁵ Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

¹⁶ for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

²⁶ “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end. ²⁷ TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. ²⁸ PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” 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. ³⁰ In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.

²⁹ “Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace;

²¹ Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

²⁴ I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²² What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

⁵⁵ “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

⁹ Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

⁸ We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

²³ But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

³ For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape.

¹⁸ And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹³ I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.”

²³ A prudent man keeps his knowledge, but the hearts of fools proclaim foolishness.

¹⁶ Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly.

² The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.

²⁸ The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil.

¹¹ A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control.

³ Yes also when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.

⁶ Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” ⁷ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? ⁸ What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?

¹ It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. ³ You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. ⁴ You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. ⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. ⁶ You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. ⁷ Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. ⁸ Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ⁹ Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by Yahweh’s name, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹ Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. ¹³ Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you today, to observe and to do, ¹⁴ and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. ¹⁵ But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you. ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field. ¹⁷ Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. ¹⁸ The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out. ²⁰ Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. ²¹ Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it. ²² Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish. ²³ Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed. ²⁵ Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. ²⁸ Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. ²⁹ You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you. ³⁰ You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. ³² Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand. ³³ A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always, ³⁴ so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad. ³⁵ Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. ³⁸ You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. ⁴² Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail. ⁴⁵ All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. ⁴⁶ They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever. ⁴⁷ Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which Yahweh your God has given you. ⁵³ You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter, ⁵⁷ toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates. ⁵⁸ If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration. ⁶⁰ He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. ⁶³ It will happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess. ⁶⁴ Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. ⁶⁵ Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. ⁶⁶ Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. ⁶⁸ Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.

¹⁸ lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison; ¹⁹ and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” to destroy the moist with the dry. ²⁰ Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky. ²¹ Yahweh will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law. ²² The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick, ²³ that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath. ²⁴ Even all the nations will say, “Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?” ²⁵ Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶ and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them. ²⁷ Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book. ²⁸ Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”

⁶ Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel each went to his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷ The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel. ⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old. ⁹ They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰ After all that generation were gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who didn’t know Yahweh, nor the work which he had done for Israel. ¹¹ The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals. ¹² They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked Yahweh to anger. ¹³ They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

³⁴ and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

² “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. ³ Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,”’ says Yahweh.” ⁴ Hear Yahweh’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! ⁵ Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless? ⁶ They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’ ⁷ I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. ⁸ The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit. ⁹ “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh, “and I will contend with your children’s children. ¹⁰ For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see. Send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. ¹¹ Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit. ¹² “Be astonished, you heavens, at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate,” says Yahweh. ¹³ “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water. ¹⁴ Is Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive? ¹⁵ The young lions have roared at him and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. ¹⁶ The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. ¹⁷ “Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? ¹⁸ Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? ¹⁹ “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. ²⁰ “For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. ²¹ Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? ²² For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh. ²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, ²⁴ a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. ²⁵ “Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’

¹ Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; ³ and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴ As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all. ⁵ No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born. ⁶ “‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ ⁷ I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare. ⁸ “‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and you became mine. ⁹ “‘“Then washed I you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sealskin sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck. ¹² I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. ¹⁴ Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵ “‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shall not happen, neither shall it be. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹ My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord Yahweh. ²⁰ “‘“Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter, ²¹ that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them? ²² In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood. ²³ “‘“It has happened after all your wickedness. Woe, woe to you!” says the Lord Yahweh, ²⁴ “that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street. ²⁵ You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution. ²⁶ You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger. ²⁷ See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. ²⁸ You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied. ²⁹ You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this. ³⁰ “‘“How weak is your heart,” says the Lord Yahweh, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute; ³¹ in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay. ³² “‘“A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³ People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. ³⁴ You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’ ³⁵ “Therefore, prostitute, hear Yahweh’s word: ³⁶ ‘The Lord Yahweh says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them; ³⁷ therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸ I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. ³⁹ I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more. ⁴² So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more. ⁴³ “‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord Yahweh: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations. ⁴⁴ “‘“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters. ⁴⁷ Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. ⁴⁸ As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. ⁴⁹ “‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were arrogant, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it. ⁵¹ Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. ⁵² You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. ⁵³ “‘“I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them; ⁵⁴ that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. ⁵⁵ Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate. ⁵⁶ For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around. ⁵⁸ You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says Yahweh. ⁵⁹ “‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. ⁶¹ Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. ⁶² I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; ⁶³ that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹ Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ² “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. ³ You shall say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! ⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult. ⁶ “‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. ⁷ In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. ⁸ You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. ⁹ Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. ¹⁰ In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. ¹¹ One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹² In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹³ “‘“Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you. ¹⁴ Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will consume your filthiness out of you. ¹⁶ You will be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” ¹⁷ Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. ²¹ Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the middle of it. ²² As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’” ²³ Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

¹ When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.

⁴ A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil. ⁵ I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited. ⁶ My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me. ⁷ He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes. ⁸ Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.

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

² A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers.

¹² The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass. ¹³ A foolish son is the calamity of his father. A wife’s quarrels are a continual dripping.

²⁶ He who robs his father and drives away his mother, is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

⁸ A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.

²⁶ A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

¹¹ He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king’s friend.

⁵ Take away the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

¹² If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. ⁴⁷ Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has. ⁴⁸ But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it, ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.

²¹ “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²³ “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

⁴² The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times? ⁴³ Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has. ⁴⁵ But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, ⁴⁶ then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him, and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful. ⁴⁷ That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, ⁴⁸ but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.