Old/New Testament

The Blessing of Wisdom

3 My son, don’t forget my teaching. Remember what I tell you to do. ² What I teach will give you a good, long life, and all will go well for you.

³ Don’t ever let love and loyalty leave you. Tie them around your neck, and write them on your heart. ⁴ Then God will be pleased and think well of you and so will everyone else.

⁵ Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. ⁶ With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way. ⁷ Don’t trust in your own wisdom, but fear and respect the Lord and stay away from evil. ⁸ If you do this, it will be like a refreshing drink and medicine for your body.

⁹ Honor the Lord with your wealth and the first part of your harvest. ¹⁰ Then your barns will be full of grain, and your barrels will be overflowing with wine.

¹¹ My son, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be angry when he corrects you. ¹² The Lord corrects the one he loves, just as a father corrects a child he cares about.

¹³ Those who find wisdom are fortunate; they will be blessed when they gain understanding. ¹⁴ Profit that comes from wisdom is better than silver and even the finest gold. ¹⁵ Wisdom is worth more than fine jewels. Nothing you desire has more value.

¹⁶ With her right hand, Wisdom offers long life—with the other hand, riches and honor. ¹⁷ Wisdom will lead you to a life of joy and peace. ¹⁸ Wisdom is like a life-giving tree to those who hold on to her; she is a blessing to those who keep her close.

¹⁹ With wisdom and understanding, the Lord created the earth and sky. ²⁰ With his knowledge, he made the oceans and the clouds that produce rain.

²¹ My son, don’t ever let wisdom out of your sight. Hold on to wisdom and careful planning. ²² They will bring you a long life filled with honor. ²³ As you go through life, you will always be safe and never fall. ²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you rest, your sleep will be peaceful. ²⁵ You have no reason to fear a sudden disaster or the destruction that comes to the wicked. ²⁶ You can trust the Lord to protect you. He will not let you fall into harm.

²⁷ Do everything you possibly can for those who need help. ²⁸ If your neighbor needs something you have, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow.” Give it to him immediately.

²⁹ Don’t make plans to harm your neighbor, who lives near you and trusts you.^[a]

³⁰ Don’t take people to court without good reason, especially when they have done nothing to harm you.

³¹ Don’t envy those who are violent. Never choose to be like them. ³² Such crooked people are disgusting to the Lord. But he is a friend to those who are good and honest.

³³ The Lord curses a wicked family, but he blesses the homes of those who live right.

³⁴ He will humiliate those who make fun of others, but he is kind to those who are humble.

³⁵ The way the wise live will bring them honor, but the way fools live will bring them shame.

A Father’s Advice About Wisdom

4 Children, listen to your father’s teaching. Pay attention and you will learn how to learn. ² The advice I give is good, so don’t ever forget what I teach you.

³ When I was my father’s little boy and my mother’s dear son,^{[b] 4} my father taught me this: “Pay attention to what I say. Obey my commands and you will have a good life. ⁵ Try to get wisdom and understanding. Don’t forget my teaching or ignore what I say. ⁶ Don’t turn away from wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will keep you safe.

⁷ “The first step to becoming wise is to look for wisdom, so use everything you have to get understanding. ⁸ Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Hold on to wisdom, and she will bring you honor. ⁹ Wisdom will reward you with a crown of honor and glory.”

¹⁰ Son, listen to me. Do what I say, and you will live a long time. ¹¹ I am teaching you about wisdom and guiding you on the right path. ¹² As you walk on it, you will not step into a trap. Even if you run, you will not trip and fall. ¹³ Always remember this teaching. Don’t forget it. It is the key to life, so guard it well.

¹⁴ Don’t take the path of the wicked; don’t follow those who do evil. ¹⁵ Stay away from that path; don’t even go near it. Turn around and go another way. ¹⁶ The wicked cannot sleep until they have done something evil. They will not rest until they bring someone down. ¹⁷ Evil and violence are their food and drink.

¹⁸ The path of those who live right is like the early morning light. It gets brighter and brighter until the full light of day. ¹⁹ But the path of the wicked is like a dark night. They trip and fall over what they cannot see.

²⁰ My son, pay attention to what I say. Listen closely to my words. ²¹ Don’t let them out of your sight. Never stop thinking about them. ²² These words are the secret of life and health to all who discover them. ²³ Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.

²⁴ Don’t bend the truth or say things that you know are not right. ²⁵ Keep your eyes on the path, and look straight ahead. ²⁶ Make sure you are going the right way, and nothing will make you fall. ²⁷ Don’t go to the right or to the left, and you will stay away from evil.

The Wisdom of Avoiding Adultery

5 Son, listen to this piece of wisdom from me. Pay attention to what I know to be true. ² Remember to live wisely, and what you learn will keep your lips from saying the wrong thing. ³ Now, another man’s wife might be very charming, and the words from her lips so sweet and inviting. ⁴ But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword. ⁵ She is on a path leading to death, and she will lead you straight to the grave. ⁶ Don’t follow her. She has lost her way and does not even know it. Be careful. Stay on the road that leads to life.

⁷ Now, my sons, listen to me. Don’t forget the words I say. ⁸ Stay away from the woman who commits adultery. Don’t even go near her house. ⁹ If you do, others will get the honor you should have had. Some stranger will get everything you worked years to get. ¹⁰ People you don’t know will take all your wealth. Others will get what you worked for. ¹¹ At the end of your life, you will be sad that you ruined your health and lost everything you had. ^12-13 Then you will say, “Why didn’t I listen to my parents? Why didn’t I pay attention to my teachers? I didn’t want to be disciplined. I refused to be corrected. ¹⁴ So now I have suffered through just about every kind of trouble anyone can have, and everyone knows it.”

¹⁵ Now, about sex and marriage: Drink only the water that comes from your own well, ¹⁶ and don’t let your water flow out into the streets. ¹⁷ Keep it for yourself, and don’t share it with strangers. ¹⁸ Be happy with your own wife. Enjoy the woman you married while you were young. ¹⁹ She is like a beautiful deer, a lovely fawn. Let her love satisfy you completely. Stay drunk on her love, ²⁰ and don’t go stumbling into the arms of another woman.

²¹ The Lord clearly sees everything you do. He watches where you go. ²² The sins of the wicked will trap them. Those sins will be like ropes holding them back. ²³ Evil people will die because they refuse to be disciplined. They will be trapped by their own desires.

1 Greetings from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Greetings also from Timothy our brother in Christ.

To God’s church in Corinth and to all of God’s holy people throughout Achaia.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. ⁵ We share in the many sufferings of Christ. In the same way, much comfort comes to us through Christ. ⁶ If we have troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is so that we can comfort you. And this helps you patiently accept the same sufferings we have. ⁷ Our hope for you is strong. We know that you share in our sufferings. So we know that you also share in our comfort.

⁸ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there, which were greater than our own strength. We even gave up hope for life. ⁹ In fact, it seems like God has been telling us we are going to die. But this is so that we will not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from death. ¹⁰ He saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We feel sure he will always save us. ¹¹ And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers.

The Change in Paul’s Plans

¹² This is what we are proud of, and I can say with a clear conscience that it is true: In everything we have done in the world, we have done it with an honest and pure heart from God. And this is even truer in what we have done with you. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has. ¹³ We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope you will fully understand, ¹⁴ just as you already understand many things about us. I hope you will understand that you can be proud of us, just as we will be proud of you on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

¹⁵ I was very sure of all this. That is why I made plans to visit you first. Then you could be blessed twice. ¹⁶ I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea. ¹⁷ Do you think that I made these plans without really thinking? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, saying yes and no at the same time.

¹⁸ But if you can believe God, then you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one that Silas, Timothy, and I told you about was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. ²⁰ The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ. And that is why we say “Amen” through Christ to the glory of God. ²¹ And God is the one who makes you and us strong in Christ. God is also the one who chose us for his work.^{[a] 22} He put his mark on us to show that we are his. Yes, he put his Spirit in our hearts as the first payment that guarantees all that he will give us.

²³ I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was that I did not want to punish or hurt you. ²⁴ I don’t mean that we are trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own happiness.