Proverbs 6

English Standard Version

Practical Warnings

6 My son, if you have put up ^(A)security for your neighbor,
    have ^(B)given your pledge for a stranger,
²if you are ^(C)snared in the words of your mouth,
    caught in the words of your mouth,
³then do this, my son, and save yourself,
    for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
    go, hasten,^[a] and ^(D)plead urgently with your neighbor.
⁴^(E)Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;
⁵save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,^[b]
    ^(F)like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

⁶^(G)Go to ^(H)the ant, O ^(I)sluggard;
    consider her ways, and ^(J)be wise.
⁷^(K)Without having any chief,
    ^(L)officer, or ruler,
⁸she prepares her bread ^(M)in summer
    and ^(N)gathers her food in harvest.
⁹^(O)How long will you lie there, ^(P)O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰^(Q)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    ^(R)a little ^(S)folding of the hands to rest,
¹¹^(T)and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

¹²^(U)A worthless person, a wicked man,
    goes about with ^(V)crooked speech,
¹³^(W)winks with his eyes, signals^[c] with his feet,
    points with his finger,
¹⁴with ^(X)perverted heart ^(Y)devises evil,
    continually ^(Z)sowing discord;
¹⁵therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
    ^(AA)in a moment he will be broken ^(AB)beyond healing.

¹⁶There are ^(AC)six things that the Lord hates,
    ^(AD)seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷^(AE)haughty eyes, ^(AF)a lying tongue,
    and ^(AG)hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸^(AH)a heart that devises wicked plans,
    ^(AI)feet that make haste to run to evil,
¹⁹^(AJ)a false witness who ^(AK)breathes out lies,
    and one who ^(AL)sows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

²⁰^(AM)My son, keep your father's commandment,
    ^(AN)and forsake not your mother's teaching.
²¹^(AO)Bind them on your heart always;
    ^(AP)tie them around your neck.
²²^(AQ)When you walk, they^[d] will lead you;
    ^(AR)when you lie down, they will ^(AS)watch over you;
    and when you awake, they will talk with you.
²³For the commandment is ^(AT)a lamp and the teaching a light,
    and the ^(AU)reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
²⁴to preserve you from the evil woman,^[e]
    from the smooth tongue of ^(AV)the adulteress.^[f]
²⁵^(AW)Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her ^(AX)eyelashes;
²⁶for ^(AY)the price of a prostitute is only ^(AZ)a loaf of bread,^[g]
    but a married woman^[h] ^(BA)hunts down a precious life.
²⁷Can a man carry ^(BB)fire next to his ^(BC)chest
    and his clothes not be burned?
²⁸Or can one ^(BD)walk on hot coals
    and his feet not be scorched?
²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
    none who touches her ^(BE)will go unpunished.
³⁰People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to ^(BF)satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
³¹but ^(BG)if he is caught, he will pay ^(BH)sevenfold;
    he will give all the goods of his house.
³²He who commits adultery lacks sense;
    he who does it destroys himself.
³³He will get wounds and dishonor,
    and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
³⁴For ^(BI)jealousy makes a man furious,
    and he will not spare when ^(BJ)he takes revenge.
³⁵He will accept no compensation;
    he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Footnotes

Proverbs 6:3 Or humble yourself
Proverbs 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter
Proverbs 6:13 Hebrew scrapes
Proverbs 6:22 Hebrew it; three times in this verse
Proverbs 6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
Proverbs 6:24 Hebrew the foreign woman
Proverbs 6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
Proverbs 6:26 Hebrew a man's wife

Ezekiel 11-13

English Standard Version

Judgment on Wicked Counselors

11 ^(A)The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to ^(B)the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were ^(C)twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah ^(D)the son of Azzur, and ^(E)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ²And he said to me, ^(F)“Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; ³^(G)who say, ^(H)‘The time is not near^[a] to build houses. ^(I)This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man.”

⁵And ^(J)the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. ^(K)For I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶^(L)You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(M)Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, ^(N)they are the meat, and ^(O)this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. ⁸^(P)You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. ⁹And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and ^(Q)give you into the hands of foreigners, and ^(R)execute judgments upon you. ¹⁰^(S)You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ^(T)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹^(U)This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ¹²and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, ^(V)but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

¹³And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, ^(W)that ^(X)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. ^(Y)Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, ^(Z)“Ah, Lord God! ^(AA)Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

Israel's New Heart and Spirit

¹⁴And the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁵^(AB)“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen,^[b] the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ^(AC)‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ ¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet ^(AD)I have been a sanctuary to them for a while^[c] in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(AE)I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, ^(AF)and I will give you the land of Israel.’ ¹⁸And when they come there, ^(AG)they will remove from it all its ^(AH)detestable things and all its abominations. ¹⁹^(AI)And I will give them one heart, and ^(AJ)a new spirit I will put within them. ^(AK)I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh ^(AL)and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰^(AM)that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. ^(AN)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹^(AO)But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, ^(AP)I will^[d] bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

²²^(AQ)Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, ^(AR)and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^(AS)stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. ²⁴^(AT)And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me ^(AU)in the vision by the Spirit of God ^(AV)into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

Judah's Captivity Symbolized

12 The word of the Lord came to me: ²^(AW)“Son of man, you dwell in the midst of ^(AX)a rebellious house, ^(AY)who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are ^(AZ)a rebellious house. ³As for you, son of man, prepare for yourself ^(BA)an exile's baggage, and go into exile by day ^(BB)in their sight. You shall go like an exile from your place to another place ^(BC)in their sight. ^(BD)Perhaps they will understand, though^[e] they are a rebellious house. ⁴You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for exile, and you shall go out yourself ^(BE)at evening in their sight, as those do who must go into exile. ⁵In their sight ^(BF)dig through the wall, and bring your baggage out through it. ⁶In their sight you shall lift the baggage upon your shoulder and carry it out at dusk. You shall cover your face that you may not see the land, for I have made you ^(BG)a sign for the house of Israel.”

⁷^(BH)And I did as I was commanded. ^(BI)I brought out my baggage by day, as baggage for exile, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my own hands. I brought out my baggage at dusk, carrying it on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸In the morning the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹^(BJ)“Son of man, has not the house of Israel, ^(BK)the rebellious house, said to you, ^(BL)‘What are you doing?’ ¹⁰Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: This oracle concerns^[f] ^(BM)the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are in it.’^[g] ¹¹Say, ^(BN)‘I am a sign for you: ^(BO)as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity.’ ¹²^(BP)And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage upon his shoulder at dusk, and shall go out. ^(BQ)They shall dig through the wall to bring him out through it. ^(BR)He shall cover his face, that he may not see the land with his eyes. ¹³^(BS)And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And ^(BT)I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, ^(BU)yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there. ¹⁴^(BV)And I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops, ^(BW)and I will unsheathe the sword after them. ¹⁵^(BX)And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries. ¹⁶^(BY)But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go, ^(BZ)and may know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁷And the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸^(CA)“Son of man, ^(CB)eat your bread with quaking, and drink water with trembling and with anxiety. ¹⁹And say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: ^(CC)They shall eat their bread with anxiety, ^(CD)and drink water in dismay. In this way ^(CE)her land will be stripped of all it contains, ^(CF)on account of the violence of all those who dwell in it. ²⁰^(CG)And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall become a desolation; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

²¹And the word of the Lord came to me: ²²“Son of man, ^(CH)what is this proverb that you^[h] have about the land of Israel, saying, ^(CI)‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’? ²³Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.’ But say to them, ^(CJ)The days are near, and the fulfillment^[i] of every vision. ²⁴^(CK)For there shall be no more any ^(CL)false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵For I am the Lord; I will speak ^(CM)the word that I will speak, and it will be performed. ^(CN)It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, ^(CO)O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord God.”

²⁶And the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁷“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ^(CP)‘The vision that he sees is ^(CQ)for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ ²⁸Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: ^(CR)None of my words will be delayed any longer, ^(CS)but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God.”

False Prophets Condemned

13 The word of the Lord came to me: ²^(CT)“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those ^(CU)who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ ³Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. ⁵^(CV)You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. ⁶^(CW)They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ ^(CX)when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, ^(CY)whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

⁸Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, ^(CZ)I am against you, declares the Lord God. ⁹My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, ^(DA)nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, ^(DB)nor shall they enter the land of Israel. ^(DC)And you shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰Precisely because they have misled my people, ^(DD)saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, ^(DE)these prophets smear it with whitewash,^[j] ¹¹say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! ^(DF)There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. ¹²And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ ¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(DG)I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, ^(DH)and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. ¹⁴And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, ^(DI)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, ¹⁶the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem ^(DJ)and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

¹⁷“And you, son of man, ^(DK)set your face against ^(DL)the daughters of your people, ^(DM)who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them ¹⁸and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women ^(DN)who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and ^(DO)make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in ^(DP)the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? ¹⁹You have profaned me among my people ^(DQ)for handfuls of barley ^(DR)and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

²⁰“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(DS)I am against ^(DT)your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. ²¹Your veils also I will tear off and ^(DU)deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, ^(DV)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ²²^(DW)Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and ^(DX)you have encouraged the wicked, that ^(DY)he should not turn from his evil way to save his life, ²³^(DZ)therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Footnotes

Ezekiel 11:3 Or Is not the time near… ?
Ezekiel 11:15 Hebrew the men of your redemption
Ezekiel 11:16 Or in small measure
Ezekiel 11:21 Hebrew To the heart of their detestable things and their abominations their heart goes; I will
Ezekiel 12:3 Or will see that
Ezekiel 12:10 Or This burden is
Ezekiel 12:10 Hebrew in the midst of them
Ezekiel 12:22 The Hebrew for you is plural
Ezekiel 12:23 Hebrew word
Ezekiel 13:10 Or plaster; also verses 11, 14, 15

2 John

English Standard Version

Greeting

¹^(A)The elder to the elect lady and her children, ^(B)whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who ^(C)know ^(D)the truth, ²^(E)because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

³^(F)Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.

Walking in Truth and Love

⁴^(G)I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. ⁵And now I ask you, dear lady—^(H)not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—^(I)that we love one another. ⁶And ^(J)this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just ^(K)as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. ⁷For ^(L)many deceivers ^(M)have gone out into the world, ^(N)those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸Watch yourselves, ^(O)so that you may not lose what we^[a] have worked for, but ^(P)may win a full reward. ⁹Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, ^(Q)does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching ^(R)has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, ^(S)do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, ¹¹for whoever greets him ^(T)takes part in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

¹²^(U)Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. ^(V)Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, ^(W)so that our joy may be complete.

¹³The children of your elect sister greet you.