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26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
    and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.(A)

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29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up,[a] as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

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Footnotes

  1. 4.29 Other ancient authorities read building up faith

24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
    sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

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31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
    but the perverse tongue will be cut off.(A)

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18 Rash words are like sword thrusts,
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.(A)

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Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 4.5 Or opportunity

rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.(A) It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by being subject to their husbands.

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Speak out for those who cannot speak,
    for the rights of all the destitute.[a](A)
Speak out; judge righteously;
    defend the rights of the poor and needy.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 31.8 Heb all children of passing away

15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded,
    and a soft tongue can break bones.(A)

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Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request.(A) For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace, but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.”[a](B) Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther said, “A foe and an enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 7.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Suffering for Doing Right

Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.(A) Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.(B)

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Wives and Husbands

Wives, in the same way, be subject to your husbands, so that, even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct,(A)

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True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.(A)

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23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands or shown us all these things or[a] announced to us such things as these.”

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Footnotes

  1. 13.23 Gk OL Vg: Heb adds now

42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.(A) 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?(B) 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be[a] a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Mary’s Song of Praise

46 And Mary[b] said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,(C)
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,(D)
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
    Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,(E)
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name;(F)
50 indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.(G)
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.(H)
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;(I)
53 he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.(J)
54 He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,(K)
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”(L)

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

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Footnotes

  1. 1.45 Or believed, for there will be
  2. 1.46 Other ancient authorities read Elizabeth

Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king.(A) She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.(B) For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”(C)

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If I have won the king’s favor, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and then I will do as the king has said.”(A)

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24 She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant.(A) 25 My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he; Nabal[a] is his name, and folly is with him, but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.(B)

26 “Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.(C) 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.(D) 29 If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

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Footnotes

  1. 25.25 That is, fool

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.

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15 And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

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38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

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15 She declared to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me: 16 ‘Thus says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. 17 Because they have abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’(A) 18 But as to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19 because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.(B) 20 Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.’ ” They took the message back to the king.

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16 Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, I want to speak to you.’ ”(A) 17 He came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He answered, “I am listening.” 18 Then she said, “They used to say in the old days, ‘Let them inquire at Abel,’ and so they would settle a matter. 19 I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel; you seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel; why will you swallow up the heritage of the Lord?”(B) 20 Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not the case! But a man of the hill country of Ephraim called Sheba son of Bichri has lifted up his hand against King David; give him up alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “His head shall be thrown over the wall to you.”(C) 22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise plan. And they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, and all went to their homes, while Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.(D)

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