Jun 24 - Proverbs 4-6
Proverbs
1Listen, sons, to the discipline of a father, and pay attention, so that you may know prudence2I will bestow upon you a good gift. Do not relinquish my law3For I, too, was the son of my father, tender and an only son in the sight of my mother4And he taught me, and he also said: "Let your heart accept my words. Keep my precepts, and you shall live5Obtain wisdom, obtain prudence. May you neither forget, nor turn away from, the words of my mouth6Do not send her away, and she will guard you. Love her, and she will preserve you7The beginning of wisdom is to obtain wisdom, and, with all that you possess, to acquire prudence8Grasp her, and she will exalt you. You will be glorified by her, when you have embraced her9She will bestow upon your head an increase in graces, and she will protect you with a noble crown10Listen, my son, and accept my words, so that years of life may be multiplied for you11I will demonstrate to you the way of wisdom. I will lead you along the paths of equity12When you have entered by these, your steps will not be constrained, and when running, you will have no obstacle13Take hold of discipline. Do not dismiss it. Guard it, for it is your life14Do not delight in the paths of the impious, nor permit the way of evil-doers to please you15Take flight from it. Do not pass close to it. Turn away and abandon it16For they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. And their sleep is quickly taken away from them, unless they have overthrown17They eat the bread of impiety, and they drink the wine of iniquity18But the path of the just is like a shining light: it advances and increases, even to the day of completion19The way of the impious is darkened. They do not know where they may fall20My son, pay attention to my sermons, and incline your ear to my eloquent words21Let them not recede from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart22For they are life to those who find them and health to all that is flesh23Preserve your heart with all watchfulness, for life proceeds from this24Remove from yourself a corrupt mouth, and let detracting lips be far from you25Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids precede your steps26Direct the path of your feet, and all your ways shall be secure27Turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left; yet turn your foot away from evil. For the Lord knows the ways that are on the right, and truly, those that are on the left are perverse. But he himself will make your courses straight. Then your journey will advance in peace
1My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence2so that you may guard your thinking, and so that your lips may preserve discipline. Do not pay attention to the deceit of a woman3For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil4But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword5Her feet descend into death, and her steps reach even to Hell6They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable7Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth8Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house9Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel10Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house11and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say12"Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction13And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers14I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.15Drink water from your own cistern and from the springs of your own well16Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets17Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you18Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth19a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love20Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another21The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps22His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins23He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived
1My son, if you have taken a pledge on behalf of your friend, then you have bound your hand to an outsider2then you are ensnared by the words of your own mouth, and taken captive by your own words3Therefore, my son, do what I say, and free yourself, for you have fallen into the hand of your neighbor. Run, hurry, awaken your friend4Do not grant sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber5Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler6Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom7For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader8she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat9How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep10You will sleep a little, you will slumber a little, you will fold your hands a little to sleep11and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you12An apostate man, a harmful man, walks with a perverse mouth13he winks with the eyes, touches with the foot, speaks with the finger14With a depraved heart he devises evil, and at all times he sows conflict15To this one, his perdition will arrive promptly, and he shall be crushed suddenly: he will no longer have any remedy16Six things there are that the Lord hates, and the seventh, his soul detests17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood18a heart that devises the most wicked thoughts, feet running swiftly unto evil19a deceitful witness bringing forth lies, and he who sows discord among brothers20My son, preserve the precepts of your father, and do not dismiss the law of your mother21Bind them to your heart unceasingly, and encircle them around your throat22When you walk, let them keep step with you. When you sleep, let them guard you. And when you keep watch, speak with them23For commandment is a lamp, and law is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life24So may they guard you from an evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the outsider25Let not your heart desire her beauty; do not be captivated by her winks26For the price of a prostitute is only one loaf. Yet the woman seizes the precious soul of a man27Would a man be able to conceal fire in his bosom, so that his garments would not burn28Or could he walk over burning coals, so that his feet would not be burned29So also, he who enters to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he touches her30Not so great is the fault when someone has stolen. For he steals so as to satisfy a hungry soul31Also, if he is apprehended, he shall repay sevenfold and hand over all the substance of his house32But whoever is an adulterer, because of the emptiness of his heart, will destroy his own soul33He gathers shame and dishonor to himself, and his disgrace will not be wiped away34For the jealousy and fury of the husband will not spare him on the day of vindication35nor will he agree to the pleadings of anyone, nor will he accept, as repayment, a multitude of gifts