¹¹ The words of the wise are like cattle prods—painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd^[a] drives the sheep.

³⁷ Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

¹² For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

²³ And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them.

^4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

¹⁰ Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?

Sayings of the Wise