
Proverbs 10 The Message (MSG)The Wise Sayings of SolomonAn Honest Life Is Immortal10 Wise son, glad father; 2 Ill-gotten gain gets you nowhere; 3 God won’t starve an honest soul, 4 Sloth makes you poor; 5 Make hay while the sun shines—that’s smart; 6 Blessings accrue on a good and honest life, 7 A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; 8 A wise heart takes orders; 9 Honesty lives confident and carefree, 10 An evasive eye is a sign of trouble ahead, 11 The mouth of a good person is a deep, life-giving well, 12 Hatred starts fights, 13 You’ll find wisdom on the lips of a person of insight, 14 The wise accumulate knowledge—a true treasure; The Road to Life Is a Disciplined Life15 The wealth of the rich is their bastion; 16 The wage of a good person is exuberant life; 17 The road to life is a disciplined life; 18 Liars secretly hoard hatred; 19 The more talk, the less truth; 20 The speech of a good person is worth waiting for; 21 The talk of a good person is rich fare for many, Fear-of-God Expands Your Life22 God’s blessing makes life rich; 23 An empty-head thinks mischief is fun, 24 The nightmares of the wicked come true; 25 When the storm is over, there’s nothing left of the wicked; 26 A lazy employee will give you nothing but trouble; 27 The Fear-of-God expands your life; 28 The aspirations of good people end in celebration; 29 God is solid backing to a well-lived life, 30 Good people last—they can’t be moved; 31 A good person’s mouth is a clear fountain of wisdom; 32 The speech of a good person clears the air;
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |
Proverbs 11 The Message (MSG)Without Good Direction, People Lose Their Way11 God hates cheating in the marketplace; 2 The stuck-up fall flat on their faces, 3 The integrity of the honest keeps them on track; 4 A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart, 5 Moral character makes for smooth traveling; 6 Good character is the best insurance; 7 When the wicked die, that’s it— 8 A good person is saved from much trouble; 9 The loose tongue of the godless spreads destruction; 10 When it goes well for good people, the whole town cheers; 11 When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes; 12 Mean-spirited slander is heartless; 13 A gadabout gossip can’t be trusted with a secret, 14 Without good direction, people lose their way; 15 Whoever makes deals with strangers is sure to get burned; 16 A woman of gentle grace gets respect, A God-Shaped Life17 When you’re kind to others, you help yourself; 18 Bad work gets paid with a bad check; 19 Take your stand with God’s loyal community and live, 20 God can’t stand deceivers, 21 Count on this: The wicked won’t get off scot-free, 22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout 23 The desires of good people lead straight to the best, 24 The world of the generous gets larger and larger; 25 The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; 26 Curses on those who drive a hard bargain! 27 The one who seeks good finds delight; 28 A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; 29 Exploit or abuse your family, and end up with a fistful of air; 30 A good life is a fruit-bearing tree; 31 If good people barely make it,
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |
Proverbs 12 The Message (MSG)If You Love Learning12 If you love learning, you love the discipline that goes with it— 2 A good person basks in the delight of God, 3 You can’t find firm footing in a swamp, 4 A hearty wife invigorates her husband, 5 The thinking of principled people makes for justice; 6 The words of the wicked kill; 7 Wicked people fall to pieces—there’s nothing to them; 8 A person who talks sense is honored; 9 Better to be ordinary and work for a living 10 Good people are good to their animals; 11 The one who stays on the job has food on the table; 12 What the wicked construct finally falls into ruin, Wise People Take Advice13 The gossip of bad people gets them in trouble; 14 Well-spoken words bring satisfaction; 15 Fools are headstrong and do what they like; 16 Fools have short fuses and explode all too quickly; 17 Truthful witness by a good person clears the air, 18 Rash language cuts and maims, 19 Truth lasts; 20 Evil scheming distorts the schemer; 21 No evil can overwhelm a good person, 22 God can’t stomach liars; 23 Prudent people don’t flaunt their knowledge; 24 The diligent find freedom in their work; 25 Worry weighs us down; 26 A good person survives misfortune, 27 A lazy life is an empty life, 28 Good men and women travel right into life;
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |
Romans 10 The Message (MSG)Israel Reduced to Religion10 1-3 Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what’s best for Israel: salvation, nothing less. I want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time. I readily admit that the Jews are impressively energetic regarding God—but they are doing everything exactly backward. They don’t seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God’s business, and a most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily hawk their wares. After all these years of refusing to really deal with God on his terms, insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for it. 4-10 The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it’s not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story—no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying? The word that saves is right here, It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” 11-13 Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.” 14-17 But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to. 18-21 But haven’t there been plenty of opportunities for Israel to listen and understand what’s going on? Plenty, I’d say. Preachers’ voices have gone ’round the world, So the big question is, Why didn’t Israel understand that she had no corner on this message? Moses had it right when he predicted, When you see God reach out to those Isaiah dared to speak out these words of God: People found and welcomed me Then he capped it with a damning indictment: Day after day after day,
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |