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So don’t bother correcting mockers;
    they will only hate you.
But correct the wise,
    and they will love you.

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Let the godly strike me!
    It will be a kindness!
If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.
    Don’t let me refuse it.

But I pray constantly
    against the wicked and their deeds.

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18 If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace;
    if you accept correction, you will be honored.

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Don’t waste your breath on fools,
    for they will despise the wisest advice.

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12 Mockers hate to be corrected,
    so they stay away from the wise.

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“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy.[a] Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:6 Greek Don’t give the sacred to dogs.

29 Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism
    will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.

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23 In the end, people appreciate honest criticism
    far more than flattery.

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17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.[a] Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.

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Footnotes

  1. 19:17 Hebrew for your brother.

For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

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14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

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15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

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Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

11 “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. 12 You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”

David Confesses His Guilt

13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. 14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord[a] by doing this, your child will die.”

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Footnotes

  1. 12:14 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads the enemies of the Lord.

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