Old/New Testament
Wisdom and Piety
3 My child, do not forget my instruction,
and may your heart guard my commands.
2 For length of days, years of life,
and peace they[a] shall add to you.
3 May loyal love[b] and truth not forsake you;
bind them around your neck,
write them upon your heart.
4 And you shall find favor and good sense[c]
in the eyes of God and humankind.
5 Trust Yahweh[d] with all your heart;
do not lean toward your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will straighten your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear Yahweh and retreat from evil.
8 There shall be healing for your flesh,[e]
and refreshment for your body.
9 Honor Yahweh from your substance,[f]
and from the firstfruits of all that will come to you,
10 and your barns shall be full of plenty,
and your vats shall burst with new wine.
Happy Is the One Who Finds Wisdom
11 Do not despise the discipline of Yahweh, my child.
Do not be weary of his reproof
12 because whomever Yahweh will love, he will rebuke,
as a father delights in his son.
13 Happy is the one[g] who finds wisdom,
and one who obtains understanding.
14 For her[h] income is better than the income of silver,
and her revenue than that of gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies,
and all your desires shall not compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life for those who seize her;
those who take hold of her are considered happy.
Role of Wisdom in Creation and Society
19 Yahweh in wisdom founded the earth;
he established the heavens in understanding.
20 With his knowledge, depths broke open,
and clouds dropped dew.
21 My child, may they[i] not escape from your sight;[j]
may you keep sound wisdom and prudence.
22 They shall be life for your soul[k]
and adornment[l] for your neck.
23 Then you will walk in the confidence of your ways,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 If you sit down, you will not panic,[m]
and if you lie down, then your sleep shall be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden panic,[n]
or the storm of wickedness that will come.
26 Yahweh will be your confidence[o]
and guard your foot from capture.
27 Do not withhold good from its owner[p]
when it is in the power of your hand to do.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Go and return and tomorrow I will give it,”
when it is with you.[q]
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor
who dwells in confidence beside you.
30 Do not quarrel with anyone without cause,
when he did not do you harm.
31 Do not envy a man of violence,
and do not choose any of his ways,
32 for he who is perverse is an abomination of Yahweh,
but those who are upright are his confidence.
33 The curse of Yahweh is on the house of the wicked,
and the abode of the righteous ones he blesses.
34 With those who scorn, he is scornful,
but to those who are humble, he gives favor.
35 They will inherit the honor of the wise,
but stubborn fools, disgrace.
The Father’s Wisdom
4 Children, listen to the instruction of a father,
and be attentive in order to know insight.
2 For I have given you good instruction;
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son to my father,
tender and alone before my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me,
“May your heart hold fast to my words;
guard my commandments and live.
5 Get wisdom and insight;
do not forget and do not turn from the sayings of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her—then she will guard you;
love her and she will keep you.
7 The beginning of wisdom: Get wisdom!
With all that is in your possession, gain insight.
8 Cherish her and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will give a garland for your head;
she shall bestow a crown of glory upon you.”
The Right Path
10 Listen, my child, take my sayings,
and the years of your life shall be great.
11 In the way of wisdom I have instructed you;
I have led you in the path of uprightness.
12 When you walk,[r] your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Seize the instruction! Do not let go!
Guard her, for she is your life.
14 In the path of the wicked do not go;
do not walk in the way of those who do evil.
15 Avoid it; do not transgress it;
turn away from it and pass by.
16 For they will not sleep if they have not done wrong,
and they are robbed of their sleep if they do not cause stumbling.
17 For they ate the bread of wickedness,
and they drank the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous ones is like the light of dawn,
leading and shining until the day is full.[s]
19 The way of the wicked ones is like deep darkness;
they do not know what they stumble over.
Staying the Course
20 My child, be attentive to my words;
to my sayings incline your ear.
21 May they not escape from your sight;[t]
keep them in the midst of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them
and healing to the entire body.[u]
23 With all vigilance, keep your heart,
for from it comes the source[v] of life.
24 Remove from yourself deceitful speech,[w]
and abolish devious talk[x] from yourself.
25 May your eyes look forward[y]
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 May the path of your foot be balanced
and all your ways be sure.
27 Do not swerve right or left;
remove your foot from evil.
5 My child, be attentive to my wisdom,
and to my understanding incline your ear;
2 in order to keep prudence,
and knowledge will guard your lips.
3 For the lips of the strange woman will drip honey,
and smoother than oil is her mouth.[z]
4 But her end is bitter as the wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps take hold of Sheol.[aa]
6 She does not observe[ab] the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
Do Not Commit Adultery Against Wisdom
7 Now, O children, listen to me;
do not depart from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Keep your paths far from her,
and do not go near to the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to the others,
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and you groan at your end,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and say “How I hated discipline,
and I despised reproof!”
13 and “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers,
and I did not incline my ear to my instructors!
14 I was almost at utter[ac] ruin[ad]
in the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern
and flowing waters from inside your own well.
16 Shall your springs be scattered outward?
In the streets, shall there be streams of water?
17 May they be yours alone,
and not for strangers who are with you.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife[ae] of your youth.
19 She is a deer of love and a doe of grace;
may her breasts satisfy you always;[af]
by her love may you be intoxicated continually.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my child, by a strange woman,
and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For before the eyes of Yahweh are human ways,[ag]
and all his paths he examines.
22 His iniquities shall ensnare him, the evildoer,
and in the vanity of his sin he shall be caught.
23 He shall die for lack of[ah] discipline,
and in the greatness of his folly he shall be lost.
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints who are in all Achaia. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving for God’s Compassion and Comfort
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, thus through Christ our comfort overflows also. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that is at work in the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we[a] know that as you are sharers in the sufferings, so also you will be sharers in the comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning our affliction that happened in the province of Asia,[b] that we were burdened to an extraordinary degree, beyond our strength, so that we were in despair even of living. 9 But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not be putting confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a risk of death, and will deliver us, in whom we have put our hope that he will also deliver us again, 11 while[c] you also join in helping on our behalf[d] by prayer, so that thanks may be given on our behalf[e] by many persons for this gracious gift given to us through the help of many.
Paul’s Clear Conscience
12 For our reason for boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, in holiness[f] and purity of motive from God, not[g] in merely human wisdom, but by the grace of God. 13 For we are not writing anything else to you except what you can read or also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely[h], 14 just as you have also understood us in part, that we are your reason for boasting, just as you are also ours in the day of our Lord Jesus.
Paul Delays His Visit to Corinth
15 And with this confidence, I was wanting to come to you previously, in order that you may have a second proof of my goodwill, 16 and through you to go to Macedonia, and to come to you again from Macedonia, and to be sent on my way by you to Judea. 17 Therefore, when I[i] was wanting to do this, perhaps then was I making use of vacillation? Or was I deciding what I was deciding according to the flesh, in order that with me my “yes” may be “yes” and my “no” may be “no” at the same time?[j] 18 But God is faithful, so that our word to you is not “yes” and “no.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, did not become “yes” and “no,” but has become “yes” in him. 20 For as many as are the promises of God, in him they are “yes”; therefore also through him is the “amen” to the glory of God through us. 21 Now the one who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anoints us is God, 22 who also sealed us and gave the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
23 But I call upon God as witness against my life, that in order to[k] spare you, I did not come again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, because by faith you stand firm.
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