Proverbs 3:1-12

New King James Version

Guidance for the Young

3 My son, do not forget my law,
^(A)But let your heart keep my commands;
²For length of days and long life
And ^(B)peace they will add to you.

³Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
^(C)Bind them around your neck,
^(D)Write them on the tablet of your heart,
⁴^(E)And so find favor and ^[a]high esteem
In the sight of God and man.

⁵^(F)Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
^(G)And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶^(H)In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall ^[b]direct your paths.

⁷Do not be wise in your own ^(I)eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
⁸It will be health to your ^[c]flesh,
And ^(J)strength^[d] to your bones.

⁹^(K)Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
¹⁰^(L)So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

¹¹^(M)My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor detest His correction;
¹²For whom the Lord loves He corrects,
^(N)Just as a father the son in whom he delights.

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Footnotes

Proverbs 3:4 Lit. good understanding
Proverbs 3:6 Or make smooth or straight
Proverbs 3:8 Body, lit. navel
Proverbs 3:8 Lit. drink

Deuteronomy 6

New King James Version

The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is ^(A)the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, ²^(B)that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, ^(C)and that your days may be prolonged. ³Therefore hear, O Israel, and ^[a]be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may ^(D)multiply greatly ^(E)as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—^(F)‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

⁴^(G)“Hear, O Israel: ^[b]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ⁵^(H)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, ^(I)with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶“And ^(J)these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷^(K)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸^(L)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹^(M)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Caution Against Disobedience

¹⁰“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He ^[c]swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities ^(N)which you did not build, ¹¹houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—^(O)when you have eaten and are full— ¹²then beware, lest you forget the ^(P)Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹³You shall ^(Q)fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and ^(R)shall take oaths in His name. ¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, ^(S)the gods of the peoples who are all around you ¹⁵(for ^(T)the Lord your God is a jealous God ^(U)among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶^(V)“You shall not ^[d]tempt the Lord your God ^(W)as you ^[e]tempted Him in Massah. ¹⁷You shall ^(X)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. ¹⁸And you ^(Y)shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, ¹⁹^(Z)to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

²⁰^(AA)“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(AB)with a mighty hand; ²²and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. ²³Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He ^[f]swore to our fathers. ²⁴And the Lord commanded us to ^[g]observe all these ^[h]statutes, ^(AC)to fear the Lord our God, ^(AD)for our good always, that ^(AE)He might preserve us alive, as it is ^[i]this day. ²⁵Then ^(AF)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 6:3 Lit. observe to do
Deuteronomy 6:4 Or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone, i.e., the only one
Deuteronomy 6:10 promised
Deuteronomy 6:16 test
Deuteronomy 6:16 tested
Deuteronomy 6:23 promised
Deuteronomy 6:24 do
Deuteronomy 6:24 ordinances
Deuteronomy 6:24 today

Hosea 2:2-23

New King James Version

God’s Unfaithful People

²“Bring^[a] charges against your mother, ^[b]bring charges;
For ^(A)she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her ^(B)harlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts;
³Lest ^(C)I strip her naked
And expose her, as in the day she was ^(D)born,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with ^(E)thirst.

⁴“I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the ^(F)children of harlotry.
⁵For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
^(G)Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’

⁶“Therefore, behold,
^(H)I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And ^[c]wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
⁷She will ^[d]chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
^(I)‘I will go and return to my ^(J)first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
⁸For she did not ^(K)know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.

⁹“Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰Now ^(L)I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
¹¹^(M)I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.

¹²“And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
¹³I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

God’s Mercy on His People

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak ^[e]comfort to her.
¹⁵I will give her her vineyards from there,
And ^(N)the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in ^(O)the days of her youth,
^(P)As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶“And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ^[f]‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ^[g]‘My Master,’
¹⁷For ^(Q)I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
¹⁸In that day I will make a ^(R)covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle ^(S)I will shatter from the earth,
To make them ^(T)lie down safely.

¹⁹“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And ^(U)you shall know the Lord.

²¹“It shall come to pass in that day
That ^(V)I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
²²The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer ^[h]Jezreel.
²³Then ^(W)I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
^(X)And I will have mercy on her who had ^[i]not obtained mercy;
Then ^(Y)I will say to those who were ^[j]not My people,
‘You are ^[k]My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

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Footnotes

Hosea 2:2 Or Contend with
Hosea 2:2 Or contend
Hosea 2:6 Lit. wall up her wall
Hosea 2:7 Or pursue
Hosea 2:14 Lit. to her heart
Hosea 2:16 Heb. Ishi
Hosea 2:16 Heb. Baali
Hosea 2:22 Lit. God Will Sow
Hosea 2:23 Heb. lo-ruhamah
Hosea 2:23 Heb. lo-ammi
Hosea 2:23 Heb. ammi

2 Timothy 4:9-22

New King James Version

The Abandoned Apostle

⁹Be diligent to come to me quickly; ¹⁰for ^(A)Demas has forsaken me, ^(B)having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. ¹¹Only Luke is with me. Get ^(C)Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. ¹²And ^(D)Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. ¹³Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.

¹⁴^(E)Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. ¹⁵You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.

¹⁶At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. ^(F)May it not be charged against them.

The Lord Is Faithful

¹⁷^(G)But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, ^(H)so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered ^(I)out of the mouth of the lion. ¹⁸^(J)And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. ^(K)To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!