Old/New Testament
3 My son, always remember what I have taught you;
keep my instructions dear to your heart.
2 If you do, they will be your guide to
a long, healthy, prosperous life.
3 Stay focused; do not lose sight of mercy and truth;
engrave them on a pendant, and hang it around your neck;
meditate on them so they are written upon your heart.
4 In this way, you will win the favor of God and others,
and they will think well of you.
5 Place your trust in the Eternal; rely on Him completely;
never depend upon your own ideas and inventions.
6 Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish,
and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead.
7 And don’t think you can decide on your own what is right and what is wrong.
Respect the Eternal; turn and run from evil.
8 If you depend on Him, your body and mind will be free from the strain of a sinful life,
will experience healing and health,
and will be strengthened at their core.
9 Pay tribute to the Eternal in all of your affairs.
Honor Him with the best of what you make.
10 That way you will prosper to the fullest
and have plenty of food to eat and wine to drink.
11 My son, do not ignore the Eternal’s instruction
or lose heart when He steps in to correct you;
12 Because the Eternal proves His love by caring enough to discipline you,
just as a father does his child, his pride and joy.[a]
God knows well what He is doing. He has established rewards for living wisely: A happy, long life. A good reputation. Guidance when you need it most. Health. Success. Even, dare we say, fatherly discipline. These are just a few of the benefits accompanying God’s wisdom.
13 How fortunate are those who discover Lady Wisdom
and those who understand her ways!
14 For her worth is greater than the most expensive prize you could win.
Her profit is greater than the finest thing you could buy.
15 No gem is more precious than she is—
your most extravagant desire doesn’t come close to her.
16 She holds the secret of a long life in one hand
and riches and fame in her other hand.
17 Her ways are pleasant;
all of her pathways are peaceful.
18 She is like a tree that produces a satisfied life for anyone who can wrap their arms around her;
happiness waits for any who hold her tightly.
19 It was by wisdom that the Eternal fashioned the earth
and by understanding that He designed the heavens.
20 Through His knowledge, the deep was divided into seas and sky,
and the clouds understood when to let down the morning dew.
21 My son, never lose sight of God’s wisdom and knowledge:
make decisions out of true wisdom, guard your good sense,
22 And they will be life to your soul
and fine jewelry around your neck.
23 Then each one of your steps will land securely on your life’s journey,
and you will not trip or fall.
24 Your mind will be clear, free from fear;
when you lie down to rest, you will be refreshed by sweet sleep.
25 Stay calm; there is no need to be afraid of a sudden disaster
or to worry when calamity strikes the wicked,
26 For the Eternal is always there to protect you.
He will safeguard your each and every step.
27 Do not withhold what is good from those who deserve it;
if it is within your power to give it, do it.
28 Do not send your neighbor away, saying, “Get back with me tomorrow.
I can give it to you then,”
when what he needs is already in your hand.
29 Make no plans that could result in injury to your neighbor;
after all, he should be more secure because he lives near you.
30 Avoid fighting with anyone without good reason,
especially when no one has hurt you;
you have nothing to fight about.
31 Do not envy someone who profits at the expense of others
or copy any of his tyrannical ways,
32 For crooked people are detestable to the Eternal,
but those with integrity receive His counsel.
33 His curse lingers over the wicked and their families,
but He forever favors residence of those who do what is right.
34 God treats the arrogant as they treat others,
mocking the mockers, scorning the scornful,
but He pours out His grace on the humble.[b]
35 In the end, the wise will receive honor,
but fools will face humiliation.
It’s perfectly natural to envy those who are successful. It’s even natural to want to imitate them. But what about those who’ve gotten ahead by doing the wrong thing? Sometimes it seems crime does pay, the good do die young, and the wicked do have more fun. But it only appears this way; it is not reality. In reality the success of wrongdoers is short-lived. God is against them, and their house is built on the sand. Even if it seems to be a grand house, it will soon come crashing down.
4 Gather, children, to hear your father’s instruction.
Pay close attention so you will understand,
2 For I am passing down to you important precepts.
Do not abandon these valuable life lessons.
3 Back when I was young—the very image of my father,
and yet from my mother’s view, still her only boy—
4 My father, with his years of experience, became my teacher.
Father: Son, grab on to every word I say to you—hold them close—
stay true to my instructions as you live, and they will serve you well.
5 Whatever it takes to gain Wisdom, do it.
To gain understanding, do it! Never forget this!
Never stray from what I am telling you.
6 If you don’t forsake Lady Wisdom, she will protect you.
Love her, and she will faithfully take care of you.
7 Gaining sound judgment is key, so first things first: go after Lady Wisdom!
Now, whatever else you do, follow through to understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will help you rise above the confusion of life—
your possibilities will open up before you—
embrace her, and she will raise you to a place of honor in return.
9 She will provide the finishing touch to your character—grace;
she will give you an elegant confidence.
10 Hear my words, my son, and take them in;
let them soak in so that you will live a long, full life.
11 I have pointed you in the way of wisdom;
I have steered you down the path to integrity.
12 So get going. And as you go, know this: with integrity you will overcome all obstacles;
even if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Tighten your grip around wise advice; don’t let it slip away.
Protect Wisdom, for without her, life isn’t worth living.
14 Do not start down the road of the wicked—
the first step is easy, but it leads to heartache—
do not go along the way of evildoers.
15 Stay away from it; don’t even go past it—
and if you find yourself anywhere near it,
turn your back and run as far as you can in the opposite direction.
16 For evildoers are so twisted they cannot sleep unless they have caused harm;
they’ll lie awake all night until they figure out a way to cause someone to stumble.
17 For they feed on evil the way most eat bread;
they drink violence the way most guzzle wine.
18 Yet the way of those who do right is like the early morning sun
that shines brighter and brighter until noon.
19 Evildoers travel a dark road because they love to hide their deeds in darkness;
they can’t see the perils ahead that cause them to stumble.
Fathers have a crucial role in instructing their sons. It’s easy and natural to teach children about some things: how to take care of a car, how to hit a ball, or how to mow the lawn. But what about deeper things, the kinds of things that make life worth living? These are much harder. They must not be left for someone else to do. Paul wrote, “And, fathers, do not drive your children mad, but nurture them in the discipline and teaching that come from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Instructing children in the ways of God is crucial work.
20 My son, pay attention to all the words I am telling you.
Lean in closer so you may hear all I say.
21 Keep them before you; meditate on them;
set them safely in your heart.
22 For those who discover them, they are life.
They bring wholeness and healing to their bodies.
23 Above all else, watch over your heart; diligently guard it
because from a sincere and pure heart come the good and noble things of life.
24 Do away with any talk that twists and distorts the truth;
have nothing to do with any verbal trickery.
25 Keep your head up, your eyes straight ahead,
and your focus fixed on what is in front of you.
26 Take care you don’t stray from the straight path, the way of truth,
and you will safely reach the end of your road.
27 Do not veer off course to the right or the left;
step away from evil, and leave it behind.
5 My son, stay focused; listen to the wisdom I have gained;
give attention to what I have learned about life
2 So you may be able to make sensible judgments
and speak with knowledge.
3 You see, the lips of a seductive woman speak honey-sweet words;
they are smooth like oil and enticing.
4 But in the end, she is bitter,
turning the stomach and rotting the soul;
she cuts as deep as a double-edged sword.
5 She leads you down a path that can only end in death;
her steps lead eventually to the grave.
6 She does not travel the road to life and truth.
She follows a wandering path—
a rocky, pit-filled road that twists and turns—and she doesn’t even know it.
7 So, my children, listen to me.
Do not stray from my advice.
8 Stay away from her, far away from her path;
don’t even go near her door
9 Unless you are ready to hand over your reputation to someone else,
unless you want to spend the rest of your years at the mercy of some cruel person.
10 If you do, strangers will help themselves to your wealth,
and everything you have worked hard to acquire will end up in someone else’s hands.
11 Your life will end with groanings of remorse, of opportunities missed,
and your flesh and bones will be eaten up with sorrow, regret for worthless efforts.
12 Then you’ll say, “Why did I hate being taught?
Why did I turn my back on correction?
13 I disregarded all that my teachers said to me;
I turned my ear away from my instructors!
14 Now I am on the edge of complete and utter ruin
in the midst of the community.”
People are easily seduced, especially men. Everyone is vulnerable to sexual sin at some point or another, and history is strewn with the wreckage that results when the path of adultery is followed: bitterness, death, instability, loss, ruin. Time and again, these are the consequences of violating God’s instruction.
15 Here’s what you should do to be satisfied:
go home and drink in the pleasures of your own cistern, your wife;
enjoy the sweet, fresh water that has been there all along, flowing from your own well.
16 Take care. Should your own springs, your body, be freely shared?
Should your streams of water satisfy anyone in the streets? Absolutely not!
17 They should be kept pure for you and you alone,
not for sharing with strangers.
18 May your fountain, your sex life, be blessed by God;
may you know true joy with the wife of your youth.
19 She who is lovely as a deer and graceful as a doe—
as you drink in her love,
may her breasts satisfy you at all times.
20 My son, why get caught up in some other woman
and embrace the breast of a stranger?
Wisdom recognizes the beauty of sexual intimacy. After all, God designed us as sexual beings. But for physical intimacy to retain the beauty of its design, it must be shared wisely. It is meant to be shared with someone who is your own. In marriage two become one (Genesis 2:24), so they belong together and belong to each other. In that safe place of belonging, one finds fulfillment. So a husband or a wife must partake only of the partner’s body and love. To seek intimacy elsewhere is foolish.
21 You see, the Eternal sees our ways before Him.
He watches every move we make and knows where those paths lead.
22 The wicked will be snared by their own wrongdoing.
Their flaws will tie their own hands, and they will be dragged through life by the cords of their sins.
23 Because they have no discipline, their spirits die and their bodies will soon follow;
because they are immensely foolish, they wander lost and confused.
1 Paul, an emissary[a] of Jesus the Anointed pressed into service by the will of God, and our brother Timothy to God’s church that gathers in Corinth and all the saints in the region of Achaia.
2 May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, surround you.
3 All praise goes to God, Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. He is the Father of compassion, the God of all comfort. 4 He consoles us as we endure the pain and hardship of life so that we may draw from His comfort and share it with others in their own struggles. 5 For even as His suffering continues to flood over us, through the Anointed we experience the wealth of His comfort just the same. 6 If we are afflicted with such trouble and pain, then know it is so that you might ultimately experience comfort and salvation. If we experience comfort, it is to encourage you so that you can hold up while you endure the same sufferings we all share. 7 Remember that our hope for you stands firm, unshaken and unshakable. That’s because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so you will also share in our comfort.
8 My brothers and sisters, we have to tell you that when we were in Asia the troubles we faced were nearly more than we could handle. The burdens we bore nearly crushed us. Our strength dwindled to nothing. For a while, we weren’t sure we would make it through the whole ordeal. 9 We thought we would have to serve out our death sentences right then and there. As a result, we realized that we could no longer rely on ourselves and that we must trust solely in God, who possesses the power to raise the dead. 10 Miraculously God Himself delivered us from the cold hands of death. We again place our hope in Him alone, and we know He will deliver us. 11 Join us in this work. Lend us a hand through prayer so that many will give thanks for the gift that comes to us when God answers the prayers of so many.
Some believe that prosperity and comfort are the markers of a faithful Christian; in order to believe that, you have to ignore completely the life and writings of Paul, the emissary. It is only when you suffer that you can meet God as your comforter. In these letters, and often in our own lives, it is when we seem to have come to the end of ourselves that we see and experience the fullness of God in entirely new ways. This is not to say that any of us should or would seek out the kind of suffering Paul experienced; we do not long to be imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, or hunted by authorities. But when our dark days come, we should be ready to learn, grow, and experience the fullness of God in the midst of our troubles.
12 We are proud of the fact that we have lived before the world and especially before you with clear consciences, living holy lives mixed with genuine sincerity before God. We have not relied on any human wisdom but on the grace and favor of God. 13 We are not writing to you in anything resembling codes or riddles; we only write those lessons you are ready to read and understand. I hope you will study them, value them, and truly understand them until the end. 14 You have already begun to grasp what we mean in part; but on the day when our Lord Jesus returns, we will be as proud of you as you are of us.
15-16 In this spirit of trust and confidence, I was intending to come your way first on my current journey. So that you might have a double dose of this grace and assurance, my plan was to visit you on my way to Macedonia and return to you again on the journey back so that you could assist me on the trip to Judea. 17 But since this didn’t happen, was I just being indecisive? Were my plans made in the flesh rather than by God’s Spirit? How can I say “yes” and “no” in the same breath? 18 Because our God is always faithful to His promises, our word to you was not both “yes” and “no”—“Yes, I’ll come,” and then, “No, I’ve changed my mind.” 19 For the Son of God—Jesus the Anointed whom we (Silvanus,[b] Timothy, and I) have preached to you—was not both “yes” and then “no.” With Him the answer is always “yes.” 20 In Jesus we hear a resounding “yes” to all of God’s many promises. This is the reason we say “Amen” to and through Jesus when giving glory to God. 21 Remember that God has established our relationship with you in the Anointed One, and He has anointed and commissioned us for this special mission. 22 He has marked us with His seal and placed His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, a down payment of the things to come.
23 If I were in court today, I’d call God as a witness to my soul. Here’s the truth: I decided not to come back to Corinth in order to spare you further pain and sorrow. 24 It’s not that we want to coerce you in any matter of faith; we are coworkers called to increase your joy because you have stood firm in faith.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.