Proverbs 3-5

English Standard Version

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

3 ^(A)My son, do not forget my teaching,
^(B)but let your heart keep my commandments,
²for ^(C)length of days and years of life
and ^(D)peace they will add to you.

³Let not ^(E)steadfast love and ^(F)faithfulness forsake you;
    ^(G)bind them around your neck;
    ^(H)write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴So you will ^(I)find favor and ^(J)good success^[a]
    in the sight of God and man.

⁵^(K)Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and ^(L)do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶In all your ways ^(M)acknowledge him,
    and he ^(N)will make straight your paths.
⁷^(O)Be not wise in your own eyes;
    ^(P)fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
⁸It will be ^(Q)healing to your flesh^[b]
    and ^(R)refreshment^[c] to your bones.

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with ^(S)the firstfruits of all your produce;
¹⁰then your ^(T)barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.

¹¹^(U)My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
¹²for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as ^(V)a father the son in whom he delights.

Blessed Is the One Who Finds Wisdom

¹³^(W)Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
    and the one who gets understanding,
¹⁴^(X)for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
    and her profit better than ^(Y)gold.
¹⁵She is more precious than ^(Z)jewels,
    and ^(AA)nothing you desire can compare with her.
¹⁶^(AB)Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are ^(AC)riches and honor.
¹⁷Her ^(AD)ways are ways of pleasantness,
    and all her paths are peace.
¹⁸She is ^(AE)a tree of life to those who ^(AF)lay hold of her;
    those who hold her fast are called blessed.

¹⁹^(AG)The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding ^(AH)he established the heavens;
²⁰by his knowledge ^(AI)the deeps broke open,
and ^(AJ)the clouds drop down the dew.

²¹My son, ^(AK)do not lose sight of these—
    keep sound wisdom and discretion,
²²and they will be ^(AL)life for your soul
    and ^(AM)adornment for your neck.
²³^(AN)Then you will walk on your way securely,
    ^(AO)and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴^(AP)If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, ^(AQ)your sleep will be sweet.
²⁵^(AR)Do not be afraid of sudden terror
    or of ^(AS)the ruin^[d] of the wicked, when it comes,
²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence
    and will ^(AT)keep your foot from being caught.
²⁷^(AU)Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,^[e]
    when it is in your power to do it.

²⁸^(AV)Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,
    tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.
²⁹^(AW)Do not plan evil against your neighbor,
    who ^(AX)dwells trustingly beside you.
³⁰^(AY)Do not contend with a man for no reason,
    when he has done you no harm.
³¹^(AZ)Do not envy ^(BA)a man of violence
    and do not choose any of his ways,
³²for ^(BB)the devious person is an abomination to the Lord,
    but the upright are ^(BC)in his confidence.
³³^(BD)The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,
    but he ^(BE)blesses the dwelling of the righteous.
³⁴Toward the ^(BF)scorners he ^(BG)is scornful,
    ^(BH)but to the humble he gives favor.^[f]
³⁵The wise will inherit honor,
    but fools get^[g] disgrace.

A Father's Wise Instruction

4 ^(BI)Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may ^(BJ)gain^[h] insight,
²for I give you good ^(BK)precepts;
    do not forsake my teaching.
³When I was a son with my father,
    ^(BL)tender, ^(BM)the only one in the sight of my mother,
⁴he ^(BN)taught me and said to me,
^(BO)“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    ^(BP)keep my commandments, and live.
⁵^(BQ)Get wisdom; get ^(BR)insight;
    do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
    ^(BS)love her, and she will guard you.
⁷^(BT)The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
    and whatever you get, get ^(BU)insight.
⁸Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
    she will ^(BV)honor you ^(BW)if you embrace her.
⁹She will place on your head ^(BX)a graceful garland;
    she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

¹⁰^(BY)Hear, ^(BZ)my son, and accept my words,
    that ^(CA)the years of your life may be many.
¹¹I have ^(CB)taught you the way of wisdom;
    I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
¹²When you walk, ^(CC)your step will not be hampered,
    and ^(CD)if you run, you will not stumble.
¹³^(CE)Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
    guard her, for she is your ^(CF)life.
¹⁴^(CG)Do not enter the path of the wicked,
    and do not walk in the way of the evil.
¹⁵Avoid it; do not go on it;
    turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶For they ^(CH)cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
    they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness
    ^(CI)and drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸But ^(CJ)the path of the righteous is like ^(CK)the light of dawn,
    which shines ^(CL)brighter and brighter until ^(CM)full day.
¹⁹^(CN)The way of the wicked is like deep ^(CO)darkness;
    they do not know over what they ^(CP)stumble.

²⁰^(CQ)My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹^(CR)Let them not escape from your sight;
    ^(CS)keep them within your heart.
²²For they are ^(CT)life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their^[i] flesh.
²³Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for ^(CU)from it flow ^(CV)the springs of life.
²⁴Put away from you ^(CW)crooked speech,
    and put ^(CX)devious talk far from you.
²⁵^(CY)Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
²⁶^(CZ)Ponder^[j] the path of your feet;
    ^(DA)then all your ways will be sure.
²⁷^(DB)Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil.

Warning Against Adultery

5 ^(DC)My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
    ^(DD)incline your ear to my understanding,
²that you may keep ^(DE)discretion,
    and your lips may ^(DF)guard knowledge.
³For the lips of ^(DG)a forbidden^[k] woman drip honey,
    and her speech^[l] is ^(DH)smoother than oil,
⁴but in the end she is ^(DI)bitter as ^(DJ)wormwood,
    ^(DK)sharp as ^(DL)a two-edged sword.
⁵Her feet ^(DM)go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to^[m] Sheol;
⁶she ^(DN)does not ponder the path of life;
    her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷And ^(DO)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸Keep your way far from her,
    and do not go near the door of her house,
⁹lest you give your honor to others
    and your years to the merciless,
¹⁰lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
    and your ^(DP)labors go to the house of a foreigner,
¹¹and at the end of your life you ^(DQ)groan,
    when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹²and you say, ^(DR)“How I hated discipline,
    and my heart ^(DS)despised reproof!
¹³I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
    or incline my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴^(DT)I am at the brink of utter ruin
    in the assembled congregation.”

¹⁵Drink ^(DU)water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶Should your ^(DV)springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water ^(DW)in the streets?
¹⁷^(DX)Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
¹⁸Let your ^(DY)fountain be blessed,
    and ^(DZ)rejoice in ^(EA)the wife of your youth,
¹⁹    a lovely ^(EB)deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts ^(EC)fill you at all times with delight;
    be intoxicated^[n] always in her love.
²⁰Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with ^(ED)a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of ^(EE)an adulteress?^[o]
²¹For ^(EF)a man's ways are ^(EG)before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ^(EH)ponders^[p] all his paths.
²²The ^(EI)iniquities of the wicked ^(EJ)ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
²³^(EK)He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is ^(EL)led astray.

Footnotes

Proverbs 3:4 Or repute
Proverbs 3:8 Hebrew navel
Proverbs 3:8 Or medicine
Proverbs 3:25 Hebrew storm
Proverbs 3:27 Hebrew Do not withhold good from its owners
Proverbs 3:34 Or grace
Proverbs 3:35 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Proverbs 4:1 Hebrew know
Proverbs 4:22 Hebrew his
Proverbs 4:26 Or Make level
Proverbs 5:3 Hebrew strange; also verse 20
Proverbs 5:3 Hebrew palate
Proverbs 5:5 Hebrew lay hold of
Proverbs 5:19 Hebrew be led astray; also verse 20
Proverbs 5:20 Hebrew a foreign woman
Proverbs 5:21 Or makes level

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

English Standard Version

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel ^(A)I preached to you, which you received, ^(B)in which you stand, ²and by which ^(C)you are being saved, if you ^(D)hold fast to the word I preached to you—^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³For ^(F)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised ^(I)on the third day ^(J)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that ^(K)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(L)to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to ^(M)James, then ^(N)to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(O)he appeared also to me. ⁹For ^(P)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(Q)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(R)I worked harder than any of them, ^(S)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, ^(T)how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, ^(U)then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that ^(V)he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and ^(W)you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who ^(X)have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope^[b] in this life only, ^(Y)we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact ^(Z)Christ has been raised from the dead, ^(AA)the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as ^(AB)by a man came death, ^(AC)by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For ^(AD)as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then ^(AE)at his coming ^(AF)those who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers ^(AG)the kingdom to God the Father after destroying ^(AH)every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign ^(AI)until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be ^(AJ)destroyed is death. ²⁷For ^(AK)“God^[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸When ^(AL)all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that ^(AM)God may be all in all.