Warnings Against Folly

My son,(A) if you have put up security(B) for your neighbor,(C)
    if you have shaken hands in pledge(D) for a stranger,
you have been trapped by what you said,
    ensnared by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, to free yourself,
    since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[a]
    and give your neighbor no rest!
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
    no slumber to your eyelids.(E)
Free yourself, like a gazelle(F) from the hand of the hunter,(G)
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.(H)

Go to the ant, you sluggard;(I)
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer(J)
    and gathers its food at harvest.(K)

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?(L)
    When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest(M)
11 and poverty(N) will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

12 A troublemaker and a villain,
    who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13     who winks maliciously with his eye,(O)
    signals with his feet
    and motions with his fingers,(P)
14     who plots evil(Q) with deceit in his heart—
    he always stirs up conflict.(R)
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;(S)
    he will suddenly(T) be destroyed—without remedy.(U)

16 There are six things the Lord hates,(V)
    seven that are detestable to him:
17         haughty eyes,(W)
        a lying tongue,(X)
        hands that shed innocent blood,(Y)
18         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,(Z)
19         a false witness(AA) who pours out lies(AB)
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.(AC)

Warning Against Adultery

20 My son,(AD) keep your father’s command
    and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.(AE)
21 Bind them always on your heart;
    fasten them around your neck.(AF)
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
    when you sleep, they will watch over you;
    when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
    this teaching is a light,(AG)
and correction and instruction
    are the way to life,(AH)
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
    from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.(AI)

25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
    or let her captivate you with her eyes.

26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
    but another man’s wife preys on your very life.(AJ)
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
    without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
    without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps(AK) with another man’s wife;(AL)
    no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,(AM)
    though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery(AN) has no sense;(AO)
    whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
    and his shame will never(AP) be wiped away.

34 For jealousy(AQ) arouses a husband’s fury,(AR)
    and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
    he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.(AS)

Warning Against the Adulterous Woman

My son,(AT) keep my words
    and store up my commands within you.
Keep my commands and you will live;(AU)
    guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
Bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.(AV)
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and to insight, “You are my relative.”
They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words.(AW)

At the window of my house
    I looked down through the lattice.
I saw among the simple,
    I noticed among the young men,
    a youth who had no sense.(AX)
He was going down the street near her corner,
    walking along in the direction of her house
at twilight,(AY) as the day was fading,
    as the dark of night set in.

10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
    dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
11 (She is unruly(AZ) and defiant,
    her feet never stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
    at every corner she lurks.)(BA)
13 She took hold of him(BB) and kissed him
    and with a brazen face she said:(BC)

14 “Today I fulfilled my vows,
    and I have food from my fellowship offering(BD) at home.
15 So I came out to meet you;
    I looked for you and have found you!
16 I have covered my bed
    with colored linens from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed(BE)
    with myrrh,(BF) aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
    let’s enjoy ourselves with love!(BG)
19 My husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took his purse filled with money
    and will not be home till full moon.”

21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
    she seduced him with her smooth talk.(BH)
22 All at once he followed her
    like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer[b] stepping into a noose[c](BI)
23     till an arrow pierces(BJ) his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
    little knowing it will cost him his life.(BK)

24 Now then, my sons, listen(BL) to me;
    pay attention to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
    or stray into her paths.(BM)
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
    her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is a highway to the grave,
    leading down to the chambers of death.(BN)

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,
  2. Proverbs 7:22 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew fool
  3. Proverbs 7:22 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.

29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?(A) 31 I face death every day(B)—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts(C) in Ephesus(D) with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”[a](E)

33 Do not be misled:(F) “Bad company corrupts good character.”[b](G) 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God(H)—I say this to your shame.(I)

The Resurrection Body

35 But someone will ask,(J) “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”(K) 36 How foolish!(L) What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.(M) 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.(N) 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor,(O) the moon another and the stars another;(P) and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be(Q) with the resurrection of the dead.(R) The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;(S) 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;(T) it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.(U)

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[c];(V) the last Adam,(W) a life-giving spirit.(X) 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.(Y) 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth;(Z) the second man is of heaven.(AA) 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.(AB) 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,(AC) so shall we[d] bear the image of the heavenly man.(AD)

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood(AE) cannot inherit the kingdom of God,(AF) nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.(AG) 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery:(AH) We will not all sleep,(AI) but we will all be changed(AJ) 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,(AK) the dead(AL) will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable(AM) must clothe itself with the imperishable,(AN) and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[e](AO)

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”[f](AP)

56 The sting of death is sin,(AQ) and the power of sin is the law.(AR) 57 But thanks be to God!(AS) He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.(AT)

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,(AU) because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.(AV)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 15:32 Isaiah 22:13
  2. 1 Corinthians 15:33 From the Greek poet Menander
  3. 1 Corinthians 15:45 Gen. 2:7
  4. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us
  5. 1 Corinthians 15:54 Isaiah 25:8
  6. 1 Corinthians 15:55 Hosea 13:14

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