Proverbs 23 Cross References - WEB

¹ When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you; ² put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite. ³ Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food. ⁴ Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint. ⁵ Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky. ⁶ Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies: ⁷ for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. ⁸ The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, and lose your good words. ⁹ Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. ¹⁰ Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless, ¹¹ for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you. ¹² Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge. ¹³ Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. ¹⁴ Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol. ¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine. ¹⁶ Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. ¹⁷ Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear Yahweh all day long. ¹⁸ Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off. ¹⁹ Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path! ²⁰ Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat: ²¹ for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags. ²² Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old. ²³ Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding. ²⁴ The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him. ²⁵ Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice! ²⁶ My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways. ²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well. ²⁸ Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men. ²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? ³⁰ Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine. ³¹ Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. ³² In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things. ³⁴ Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging: ³⁵ “They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another.”

³² They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians don’t eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled with one another. ³⁴ He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.

¹² These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

⁸ If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. ⁹ If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

²⁷ but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.

⁴ Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.

⁶ Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies:

⁸ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

³⁴ “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.

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

⁵ Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.

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

²⁷ He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

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

²⁰ A faithful man is rich with blessings; but one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

¹⁹ “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

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.”

²⁵ For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,

¹⁶ Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.

⁸ But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

⁵ Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”

³⁶ Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”

¹⁴ that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵ and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” ¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” ¹⁷ While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

⁶ “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain. ³⁷ Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.

²⁴ for riches are not forever, nor does the crown endure to all generations.

² “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

¹³ There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. ¹⁴ Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.

⁸ “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

² Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.

¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

²⁹ But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none; ³⁰ and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn’t possess; ³¹ and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

¹⁷ Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. ² Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.

⁹ Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.

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,

⁹ He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

³ Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.

²² A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him.

⁸ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ⁹ Now God made Daniel find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. ¹⁰ The prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? Then you would endanger my head with the king.”

¹⁵ Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’

²² covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.

¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

²⁶ Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” ²⁷ But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him. ²⁸ Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!”

² Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.

²¹ His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

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

²⁷ As for both these kings, their hearts will be to do mischief, and they will speak lies at one table; but it won’t prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time.

³ Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.” ⁴ Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”

³⁷ Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner. ³⁹ The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you. ⁴² But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.” ⁴⁵ One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.” ⁴⁶ He said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves won’t even lift one finger to help carry those burdens. ⁴⁷ Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸ So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute, ⁵⁰ that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. ⁵² Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.” ⁵³ As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him; ⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.

⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

⁷ One who corrects a mocker invites insult. One who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. ⁸ Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you.

⁴ Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. ⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

²¹ But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.”

⁶ “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

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

⁵² Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

³⁰ The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. ³² Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.

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

²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”

⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed. ⁴⁶ Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from yourselves, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

³² Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

²⁵ When they didn’t agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had spoken one word, “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, ²⁶ saying, ‘Go to this people and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way perceive. ²⁷ For this people’s heart has grown callous. Their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, then I would heal them.’ ²⁸ “Be it known therefore to you, that the salvation of God is sent to the nations, and they will listen.”

²¹ For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. ²² For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

¹⁰ We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. ¹¹ Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. ¹² We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. ¹³ Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.

¹⁴ You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess.

¹⁷ ‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁷ Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

⁹ You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

² There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. ³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

⁹ There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

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.

⁶ They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.

²⁸ Don’t move the ancient boundary stone which your fathers have set up.

⁵ For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

³ Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

⁵ I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.

²⁷ Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

²² “You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; ²⁴ and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

¹⁹ ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁵ But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

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.”

²³ for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

³³ Yahweh of Armies says: “The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together. All who took them captive hold them fast. They refuse to let them go. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong: Yahweh of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁶ Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.

² so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; ³ yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; ⁴ if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures: ⁵ then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God. ⁶ For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

¹ My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding, ² that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

¹⁷ Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching.

¹⁹ Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!

³¹ They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

⁵² He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

²¹ Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

²⁴ One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

¹⁸ Discipline your son, for there is hope; don’t be a willing party to his death.

¹⁵ The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

¹⁷ Correct your son, and he will give you peace; yes, he will bring delight to your soul.

¹⁵ Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

⁵ are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

³² But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.

¹ My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you,

¹ Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;

¹ The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

²⁰ A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.

²⁴ The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him. ²⁵ Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!

³ Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”

¹⁷ Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.

² Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”

²³ Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; ²⁴ for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

³² But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”

¹¹ I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

⁵ Jesus therefore said to them, “Children, have you anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.”

¹⁹ For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? ²⁰ For you are our glory and our joy.

⁸ For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. ⁹ For what thanksgiving can we render again to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sakes before our God,

¹ My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

⁴ I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.

³ For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and testified about your truth, even as you walk in truth. ⁴ I have no greater joy than this: to hear about my children walking in truth.

⁶ Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.

²⁹ Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

⁴ nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

⁴ that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.

² For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.

¹ By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. ² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb. ³ Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.

³ For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. ⁵ They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. ⁷ Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

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

³¹ Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.

¹⁶ Better is little, with the fear of Yahweh, than great treasure with trouble.

¹ Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;

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

⁷ For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words; but you must fear God.

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. ¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.

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.

¹ Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

¹⁷ If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear,

¹⁸ For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

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

¹⁴ so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul. If you have found it, then there will be a reward: Your hope will not be cut off.

²⁰ for there will be no reward to the evil man. The lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.

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.

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. ²² But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.

²⁰ according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

³⁵ Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

¹⁰ Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many. ¹¹ I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths. ¹² When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble. ¹³ Take firm hold of instruction. Don’t let her go. Keep her, for she is your life. ¹⁴ Don’t enter into the path of the wicked. Don’t walk in the way of evil men. ¹⁵ Avoid it, and don’t pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on. ¹⁶ For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall. ¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. ¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day. ¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over. ²⁰ My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. ²¹ Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart. ²² For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. ²³ Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

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

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

²⁶ My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.

¹ Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? ³⁰ Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine. ³¹ Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. ³² In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things. ³⁴ Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging: ³⁵ “They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another.”

⁷ Whoever keeps the law is a wise son; but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.

⁶ Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to the bitter in soul. ⁷ Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

¹¹ Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

²² Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

¹³ and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”

⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,

¹³ Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

¹⁹ “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

¹³ Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.

¹⁸ Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

³ For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries. ⁴ They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming.

²⁰ They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

⁹ How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? ¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: ¹¹ so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

¹⁵ Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.

¹⁷ He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.

³⁰ I went by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man void of understanding: ³¹ Behold, it was all grown over with thorns. Its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. ³² Then I saw, and considered well. I saw, and received instruction: ³³ a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, ³⁴ so your poverty will come as a robber and your want as an armed man.

¹ Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! ² Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. ³ The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.

⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

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.

¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

³ “‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.

¹⁸ If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. ²⁰ They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.

¹⁶ ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

⁸ My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.

¹¹ There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother.

¹⁷ “The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.

⁴ For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” ⁶ he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.

¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’

²⁶ Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:

¹² “But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? ¹³ Man doesn’t know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living. ¹⁴ The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’ ¹⁵ It can’t be gotten for gold, neither will silver be weighed for its price. ¹⁶ It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. ¹⁷ Gold and glass can’t equal it, neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. ¹⁸ No mention will be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies. ¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it, nor will it be valued with pure gold.

⁷² The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

¹²⁷ Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, yes, more than pure gold.

² so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; ³ yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; ⁴ if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵ Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth. ⁶ Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you. ⁷ Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.

¹⁶ How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

¹⁶ Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding?

¹⁵ The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹ “Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

⁴⁴ “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁶ who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

²⁶ For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

²³ except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.

⁷ However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. ⁸ Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ

²⁶ considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.

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.

⁴⁸ Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.’”

¹ Now the days of David came near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying, ² “I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; ³ and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.

⁹ Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine. ¹⁶ Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁹ Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

⁹ yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

²⁰ Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.

⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him with sorrow.” ¹⁰ Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border! May your hand be with me, and may you keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” God granted him that which he requested.

²⁵ A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.

³¹ Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and shall name him ‘Jesus.’ ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”

⁴⁰ and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy! ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!” ⁴⁶ Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord. ⁴⁷ My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

⁵⁸ Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.

²⁷ It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!” ²⁸ But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

⁵ You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

⁴³ Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.

² Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart.

⁹ BET How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. ¹⁰ With my whole heart, I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments. ¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

¹ My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:

⁴ He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

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

²⁵ Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. ²⁶ Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established. ²⁷ Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.

⁹ Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.

³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. ³⁸ He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me.

²⁶ “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.

¹⁴ For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died. ¹⁵ He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

⁵ This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.

¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹⁹ We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts:

¹⁴ The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.

¹ Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab;

⁴ It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” ⁶ Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.” ⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.” ⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known. ¹⁰ Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies. Now please tell me how you might be bound.” ¹¹ He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.” ¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread. ¹³ Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on the loom.” ¹⁴ She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam and the fabric. ¹⁵ She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶ When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death. ¹⁷ He told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak, and be like any other man.” ¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰ She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him. ²¹ The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he ground at the mill in the prison. ²² However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

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. ¹⁹ None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.

¹² Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

²² He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. ²³ Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life. ²⁴ Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, ²⁶ for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army. ²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.

¹⁸ But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

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.

² “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

¹¹ Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

⁸ Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.

¹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, ² with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

¹² His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.

³⁶ Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. ³⁷ In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

²⁸ Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!”

¹⁶ They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. ¹⁷ The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Samaria.” ¹⁸ He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.” ¹⁹ So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. ²⁰ They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. ²¹ The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. ²² The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.”

²¹ for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

⁷ They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. ⁸ For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.

¹⁰ For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

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,

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.

²¹ He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.

⁸ For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.

² She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table.

⁶ who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

² At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.

¹ “However, Job, please hear my speech, and listen to all my words.

³⁷ Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.

²⁵ Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

²⁸ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. ³⁰ If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

⁴⁷ If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire,

⁵ The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.

¹² For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

¹⁶ He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.

¹¹ You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

⁸ He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

³ The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.

⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

¹⁷ “For, behold, I will send serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they will bite you,” says Yahweh.

¹⁹ As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

³ Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

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. ²⁶ Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’

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.

³² Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” ³³ They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁴ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” ³⁵ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up. ³⁶ Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

¹² Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.

¹² to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things,

⁵ lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.

⁴ They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

⁵ On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.

¹² These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

⁸ With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

³³ Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. ³⁴ For indeed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.” ³⁵ So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice, and have granted your request.” ³⁶ Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. ³⁷ In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸ About ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.

¹⁶ When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great plunder that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. ¹⁷ David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.

⁹ His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah;

³⁸ For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,

²⁷ They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹ but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all.

² For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. 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. ⁴ But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. ⁵ You are all children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness, ⁶ so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.

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.

¹¹ As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.

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

¹² “Come,” they say, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”

³ O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.

³² If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ³³ Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” ³⁴ Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

¹⁹ They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

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.”