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making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding,

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turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding(A)

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12 Apply your mind to instruction
    and your ear to words of knowledge.(A)

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Saying 12

12 Apply your heart to instruction(A)
    and your ears to words of knowledge.

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18 The one who lives alone is self-indulgent,
    showing contempt for all sound judgment.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 18.1 Meaning of Heb uncertain

18 An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends
    and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.

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111 Your decrees are my heritage forever;
    they are the joy of my heart.(A)
112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes
    forever, to the end.(B)

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111 Your statutes are my heritage forever;
    they are the joy of my heart.(A)
112 My heart is set(B) on keeping your decrees
    to the very end.[a](C)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 119:112 Or decrees / for their enduring reward

12 So teach us to count our days
    that we may gain a wise heart.(A)

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12 Teach us to number our days,(A)
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.(B)

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Sayings of the Wise

17     The words of the wise:

Incline your ear and hear my words[a]
    and apply your mind to my teaching,
18 for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
    if all of them are ready on your lips.
19 So that your trust may be in the Lord,
    I have made them known to you today, yes, to you.(A)
20 Have I not written for you thirty[b] sayings
    of admonition and knowledge,(B)
21 to show you what is right and true,
    so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 22.17 Cn Compare Gk: Heb Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise
  2. 22.20 Cn: Heb in the past or noble

Thirty Sayings of the Wise

Saying 1

17 Pay attention(A) and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise;(B)
    apply your heart to what I teach,(C)
18 for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart
    and have all of them ready on your lips.
19 So that your trust may be in the Lord,
    I teach you today, even you.
20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you,
    sayings of counsel and knowledge,
21 teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth,(D)
    so that you bring back truthful reports
    to those you serve?

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If you have ears,[a] hear!”(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 13.9 Other ancient authorities add to hear

Whoever has ears, let them hear.”(A)

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Incline your ear, and come to me;
    listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David.(A)

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Give ear and come to me;
    listen,(A) that you may live.(B)
I will make an everlasting covenant(C) with you,
    my faithful love(D) promised to David.(E)

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16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night,

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16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom(A) and to observe the labor that is done on earth(B)—people getting no sleep day or night—

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All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.(A)

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All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own[a] hurt.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their

25 I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.(A)

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25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things(A)
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.(B)

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11 These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so.(A)

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11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,(A) for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures(B) every day to see if what Paul said was true.(C)

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