Old/New Testament
3 ¶ My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments:
2 For they shall add length of days and long life and peace unto thee.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thine heart:
4 So shalt thou find grace and good favour in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 ¶ Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil.
8 It shall be medicine to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.
9 Honour the LORD with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For the LORD chastens whom he loves and delights in, even as a father to his son.
13 ¶ Blessed is the man that has found wisdom and who brings to light intelligence,
14 for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the fruits thereof more than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than precious stones, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those that lay hold upon her, and blessed is every one that retains her.
19 The LORD by wisdom has founded the earth; by intelligence has he established the heavens.
20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the heavens drop down the dew.
21 ¶ My son, do not let them depart from thine eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 so shall they be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck.
23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
25 Thou shall not be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it comes.
26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
27 ¶ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
28 Do not say unto thy neighbour, Go and come again and tomorrow I will give when thou hast it by thee.
29 Do not devise evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwells securely by thee.
30 Do not sue a man without cause, if he has done thee no harm.
31 Envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways.
32 For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD; but his secret is with the righteous.
33 The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked, but he shall bless the habitation of the just.
34 Surely he scorns the scorners; but he gives grace unto the humble.
35 The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
4 ¶ Hearken, ye sons, unto the chastening of the father, and pay attention that ye might know understanding.
2 For I give you good doctrine; do not forsake my law.
3 For I was my father’s son, tender and unique in the sight of my mother.
4 He taught me and said unto me, Sustain thine heart with my words; keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding; forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
8 Grow in wisdom, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou hast embraced her.
9 She shall give to thine head an increase of grace; a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
10 Hear, O my son, and receive my words, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied.
11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have caused thee to walk in right paths.
12 When thou goest in these paths, thy steps shall not be hindered; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
13 Take fast hold of chastening; do not let go; keep this; for it is thy life.
14 ¶ Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they do not sleep, unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause someone to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is as the light of the morning star, that shines more and more until the day is perfect.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness; they do not know in what they stumble.
20 ¶ My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my words.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them and medicine to all their flesh.
23 Above all else, guard thy heart; for out of it flows the issues of life.
24 Put away from thee the perversion of the mouth, and the deviation of the lips put far from thee.
25 Let thine eyes look upon that which is right, and let thine eyelids straighten thy path before thee.
26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.
5 ¶ My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my intelligence;
2 that thou may keep council and that thy lips may conserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil,
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death, her steps uphold Sheol,
6 lest thou should ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable; thou shalt not know them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye sons, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house,
9 lest thou give thine honour unto others and thy years unto the cruel,
10 lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours be in the house of a stranger,
11 and thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed
12 and say, How have I hated chastening and my heart despised reproof
13 and have not obeyed the voice of those who chastened me, nor inclined my ear to those that instructed me!
14 I have been in almost every kind of evil, in the midst of society and of the congregation.
15 ¶ Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of thy waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only thine own and not for strangers with thee.
18 Thy fountain shall be blessed; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love, without eyes for anyone else.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a woman belonging to someone else, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he weighs all his goings.
22 His own iniquities shall take hold of the wicked, and he shall be imprisoned with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die because he did not submit to chastening; and due to the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
1 ¶ Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For in the same manner that the sufferings of the Christ abound in us, so also our consolation abounds by Christ.
6 And if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and saving health, which is effected in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and saving health.
7 ¶ And our hope of you is steadfast, being certain, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
8 Because, brothers, we would not have you ignore our tribulation which was done unto us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond our strength, in such a manner that we despaired even of life:
9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
10 who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
11 ye also helping us with prayer, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
12 ¶ For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with carnal wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly towards you.
13 For we write no other things unto you than what ye read or also know, and I trust ye shall know them even to the end
14 as also ye have known in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 ¶ And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before that ye might have a second grace
16 and to pass by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you and of you to be sent forward to Judaea.
17 When I, therefore, was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that of me there should be yes, yes, and no, no?
18 But God is faithful that our word toward you has not been yes and no.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, has not been yes and no, but in him was yes.
20 For all the promises of God are yes in him, and in him Amen, by us for the glory of God.
21 Now he who confirms us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God;
22 who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
23 Moreover I call God for a witness upon my soul that I have not yet come unto Corinth to spare you.
24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith ye stand.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International