Proverbs 5

New International Version

Warning Against Adultery

5 My son,^(A) pay attention to my wisdom,
    turn your ear to my words^(B) of insight,
²that you may maintain discretion
    and your lips may preserve knowledge.
³For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil;^(C)
⁴but in the end she is bitter as gall,^(D)
    sharp as a double-edged sword.
⁵Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.^(E)
⁶She gives no thought to the way of life;
    her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.^(F)

⁷Now then, my sons, listen^(G) to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
⁸Keep to a path far from her,^(H)
    do not go near the door of her house,
⁹lest you lose your honor to others
    and your dignity^[a] to one who is cruel,
¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another.^(I)
¹¹At the end of your life you will groan,
    when your flesh and body are spent.
¹²You will say, “How I hated discipline!
    How my heart spurned correction!^(J)
¹³I would not obey my teachers
    or turn my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴And I was soon in serious trouble^(K)
    in the assembly of God’s people.”^(L)

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸May your fountain^(M) be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.^(N)
¹⁹A loving doe, a graceful deer^(O)—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
²⁰Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹For your ways are in full view^(P) of the Lord,
    and he examines^(Q) all your paths.^(R)
²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;^(S)
    the cords of their sins hold them fast.^(T)
²³For lack of discipline they will die,^(U)
    led astray by their own great folly.^(V)

Footnotes

Proverbs 5:9 Or years

Deuteronomy 10:12-11:32

New International Version

Fear the Lord

¹²And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you^(A) but to fear^(B) the Lord your God, to walk^(C) in obedience to him, to love him,^(D) to serve the Lord^(E) your God with all your heart^(F) and with all your soul,^(G) ¹³and to observe the Lord’s commands^(H) and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?^(I)

¹⁴To the Lord your God belong the heavens,^(J) even the highest heavens,^(K) the earth and everything in it.^(L) ¹⁵Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved^(M) them, and he chose you,^(N) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.^(O) ¹⁶Circumcise^(P) your hearts,^(Q) therefore, and do not be stiff-necked^(R) any longer. ¹⁷For the Lord your God is God of gods^(S) and Lord of lords,^(T) the great God, mighty and awesome,^(U) who shows no partiality^(V) and accepts no bribes.^(W) ¹⁸He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,^(X) and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.^(Y) ¹⁹And you are to love^(Z) those who are foreigners,^(AA) for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.^(AB) ²⁰Fear the Lord your God and serve him.^(AC) Hold fast^(AD) to him and take your oaths in his name.^(AE) ²¹He is the one you praise;^(AF) he is your God, who performed for you those great^(AG) and awesome wonders^(AH) you saw with your own eyes. ²²Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all,^(AI) and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.^(AJ)

Love and Obey the Lord

11 Love^(AK) the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.^(AL) ²Remember today that your children^(AM) were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God:^(AN) his majesty,^(AO) his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;^(AP) ³the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;^(AQ) ⁴what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots,^(AR) how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea^[a]^(AS) as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. ⁵It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, ⁶and what he did^(AT) to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened^(AU) its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. ⁷But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.^(AV)

⁸Observe therefore all the commands^(AW) I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,^(AX) ⁹and so that you may live long^(AY) in the land the Lord swore^(AZ) to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(BA) ¹⁰The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt,^(BB) from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys^(BC) that drinks rain from heaven.^(BD) ¹²It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes^(BE) of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

¹³So if you faithfully obey^(BF) the commands I am giving you today—to love^(BG) the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul^(BH)— ¹⁴then I will send rain^(BI) on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains,^(BJ) so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵I will provide grass^(BK) in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.^(BL)

¹⁶Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.^(BM) ¹⁷Then the Lord’s anger^(BN) will burn against you, and he will shut up^(BO) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,^(BP) and you will soon perish^(BQ) from the good land the Lord is giving you. ¹⁸Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.^(BR) ¹⁹Teach them to your children,^(BS) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.^(BT) ²⁰Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,^(BU) ²¹so that your days and the days of your children may be many^(BV) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.^(BW)

²²If you carefully observe^(BX) all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love^(BY) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast^(BZ) to him— ²³then the Lord will drive out^(CA) all these nations^(CB) before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.^(CC) ²⁴Every place where you set your foot will be yours:^(CD) Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River^(CE) to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror^(CF) and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.^(CG)

²⁶See, I am setting before you today a blessing^(CH) and a curse^(CI)— ²⁷the blessing^(CJ) if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸the curse if you disobey^(CK) the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods,^(CL) which you have not known. ²⁹When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim^(CM) the blessings, and on Mount Ebal^(CN) the curses.^(CO) ³⁰As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh,^(CP) in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.^(CQ) ³¹You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession^(CR) of the land the Lord your God is giving^(CS) you. When you have taken it over and are living there, ³²be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 11:4 Or the Sea of Reeds

Hosea 8

New International Version

Israel to Reap the Whirlwind

8 “Put the trumpet^(A) to your lips!
    An eagle^(B) is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant^(C)
    and rebelled against my law.^(D)
²Israel cries out to me,
    ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
³But Israel has rejected what is good;
    an enemy will pursue him.^(E)
⁴They set up kings without my consent;
    they choose princes without my approval.^(F)
With their silver and gold
    they make idols^(G) for themselves
    to their own destruction.
⁵Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!^(H)
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?^(I)
⁶    They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.^(J)
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf^(K) of Samaria.^(L)

⁷“They sow the wind
    and reap the whirlwind.^(M)
The stalk has no head;
    it will produce no flour.^(N)
Were it to yield grain,
    foreigners would swallow it up.^(O)
⁸Israel is swallowed up;^(P)
    now she is among the nations
    like something no one wants.^(Q)
⁹For they have gone up to Assyria^(R)
    like a wild donkey^(S) wandering alone.
    Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.^(T)
¹⁰Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
    I will now gather them together.^(U)
They will begin to waste away^(V)
    under the oppression of the mighty king.

¹¹“Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    these have become altars for sinning.^(W)
¹²I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.^(X)
¹³Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me,
    and though they eat^(Y) the meat,
    the Lord is not pleased with them.^(Z)
Now he will remember^(AA) their wickedness
    and punish their sins:^(AB)
    They will return to Egypt.^(AC)
¹⁴Israel has forgotten^(AD) their Maker^(AE)
    and built palaces;
    Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities
    that will consume their fortresses.”^(AF)

Titus 3:1-8

New International Version

Saved in Order to Do Good

3 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities,^(A) to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,^(B) ²to slander no one,^(C) to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

³At one time^(D) we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness^(E) and love of God our Savior^(F) appeared,^(G) ⁵he saved us,^(H) not because of righteous things we had done,^(I) but because of his mercy.^(J) He saved us through the washing^(K) of rebirth and renewal^(L) by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us^(M) generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace,^(N) we might become heirs^(O) having the hope^(P) of eternal life.^(Q) ⁸This is a trustworthy saying.^(R) And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.^(S) These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.