Proverbs 4

English Standard Version

A Father's Wise Instruction

4 ^(A)Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may ^(B)gain^[a] insight,
²for I give you good ^(C)precepts;
    do not forsake my teaching.
³When I was a son with my father,
    ^(D)tender, ^(E)the only one in the sight of my mother,
⁴he ^(F)taught me and said to me,
^(G)“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    ^(H)keep my commandments, and live.
⁵^(I)Get wisdom; get ^(J)insight;
    do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
    ^(K)love her, and she will guard you.
⁷^(L)The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
    and whatever you get, get ^(M)insight.
⁸Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
    she will ^(N)honor you ^(O)if you embrace her.
⁹She will place on your head ^(P)a graceful garland;
    she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰^(Q)Hear, ^(R)my son, and accept my words,
    that ^(S)the years of your life may be many.
¹¹I have ^(T)taught you the way of wisdom;
    I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
¹²When you walk, ^(U)your step will not be hampered,
    and ^(V)if you run, you will not stumble.
¹³^(W)Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
    guard her, for she is your ^(X)life.
¹⁴^(Y)Do not enter the path of the wicked,
    and do not walk in the way of the evil.
¹⁵Avoid it; do not go on it;
    turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶For they ^(Z)cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
    they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness
    ^(AA)and drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸But ^(AB)the path of the righteous is like ^(AC)the light of dawn,
    which shines ^(AD)brighter and brighter until ^(AE)full day.
¹⁹^(AF)The way of the wicked is like deep ^(AG)darkness;
    they do not know over what they ^(AH)stumble.

²⁰^(AI)My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹^(AJ)Let them not escape from your sight;
    ^(AK)keep them within your heart.
²²For they are ^(AL)life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their^[b] flesh.
²³Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for ^(AM)from it flow ^(AN)the springs of life.
²⁴Put away from you ^(AO)crooked speech,
    and put ^(AP)devious talk far from you.
²⁵^(AQ)Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
²⁶^(AR)Ponder^[c] the path of your feet;
    ^(AS)then all your ways will be sure.
²⁷^(AT)Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil.

Footnotes

Proverbs 4:1 Hebrew know
Proverbs 4:22 Hebrew his
Proverbs 4:26 Or Make level

Joshua 24

English Standard Version

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel ^(A)to Shechem and ^(B)summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And ^(C)they presented themselves before God. ²And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, ^(D)your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,^[a] Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and ^(E)they served other gods. ³^(F)Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River^[b] and ^(G)led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. ^(H)I gave him Isaac. ⁴And to Isaac I gave ^(I)Jacob and Esau. ^(J)And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, ^(K)but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. ⁵^(L)And I sent Moses and Aaron, ^(M)and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and ^(N)afterward I brought you out.

⁶“‘Then ^(O)I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^(P)you came to the sea. ^(Q)And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷^(R)And when they cried to the Lord, ^(S)he put darkness between you and the Egyptians ^(T)and made the sea come upon them and cover them; ^(U)and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. ^(V)And you lived in the wilderness a long time. ⁸Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. ^(W)They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. ⁹^(X)Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. ^(Y)And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰^(Z)but I would not listen to Balaam. ^(AA)Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹^(AB)And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, ^(AC)and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also ^(AD)the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. ¹²And I sent ^(AE)the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was ^(AF)not by your sword or by your bow. ¹³I gave you a land on which you had not labored ^(AG)and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

¹⁴^(AH)“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ^(AI)Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵^(AJ)And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, ^(AK)choose this day whom you will serve, whether ^(AL)the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ^(AM)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ^(AN)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, ¹⁷for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. ¹⁸And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

¹⁹But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is ^(AO)a holy God. He is ^(AP)a jealous God; ^(AQ)he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰^(AR)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then ^(AS)he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” ²¹And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” ²²Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^(AT)you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³He said, “Then ^(AU)put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” ²⁵So Joshua ^(AV)made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ^(AW)statutes and rules for them at Shechem. ²⁶And Joshua ^(AX)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And ^(AY)he took a large stone and set it up there ^(AZ)under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^(BA)this stone shall be a witness against us, for ^(BB)it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” ²⁸So Joshua ^(BC)sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua's Death and Burial

²⁹^(BD)After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. ³⁰And they buried him in his own inheritance at ^(BE)Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

³¹^(BF)Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua ^(BG)and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

³²^(BH)As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land ^(BI)that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money.^[c] It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

³³And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of ^(BJ)Phinehas his son, which had been given him in ^(BK)the hill country of Ephraim.

Footnotes

Joshua 24:2 Hebrew the River
Joshua 24:3 That is, the Euphrates; also verses 14, 15
Joshua 24:32 Hebrew for a hundred qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value

1 Corinthians 10

English Standard Version

Warning Against Idolatry

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[a] that our fathers were all under ^(A)the cloud, and all ^(B)passed through the sea, ²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and ^(C)all ate the same ^(D)spiritual food, ⁴and ^(E)all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for ^(F)they were overthrown^[b] in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as ^(G)they did. ⁷^(H)Do not be idolaters ^(I)as some of them were; as it is written, ^(J)“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” ⁸^(K)We must not indulge in sexual immorality ^(L)as some of them did, and ^(M)twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹We must not put Christ^[c] to the test, ^(N)as some of them did and ^(O)were destroyed by serpents, ¹⁰nor grumble, ^(P)as some of them did and ^(Q)were destroyed by ^(R)the Destroyer. ¹¹Now these things happened to them as an example, but ^(S)they were written down for our instruction, ^(T)on whom the end of the ages has come. ¹²Therefore ^(U)let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. ^(V)God is faithful, and ^(W)he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, ^(X)flee from idolatry. ¹⁵I speak ^(Y)as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶^(Z)The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? ^(AA)The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are ^(AB)one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸Consider ^(AC)the people of Israel:^[d] ^(AD)are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that ^(AE)an idol is anything? ²⁰No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice ^(AF)they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹^(AG)You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and ^(AH)the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and ^(AI)the table of demons. ²²^(AJ)Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? ^(AK)Are we stronger than he?

Do All to the Glory of God

²³^(AL)“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. ²⁴^(AM)Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. ²⁵^(AN)Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁶For ^(AO)“the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” ²⁷If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, ^(AP)eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁸But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹I do not mean ^(AQ)your conscience, but his. For ^(AR)why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? ³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that ^(AS)for which I give thanks?

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or ^(AT)whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ³²^(AU)Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to ^(AV)the church of God, ³³just as ^(AW)I try to please everyone in everything I do, ^(AX)not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.