Old/New Testament
6 1 Instruction for sureties. 6 The slothful and sluggish is stirred to work. 12 He describeth the nature of the wicked. 16 The things that God hateth. 20 To observe the word of God. 24 To flee adultery.
1 My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbor, and hast stricken hands with the stranger,
2 Thou art [a]snared with the words of thy mouth: thou art even taken with the words of thine own mouth.
3 Do this now, my Son, and deliver thyself: seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor, go, and humble thyself, and solicit thy friends.
4 Give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
5 Deliver thyself as a Doe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 ¶ Go to [b]the pismire, O sluggard: behold her ways, and be wise.
7 For she having no guide, governor, nor ruler,
8 Prepareth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of the sleep?
10 (A)Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, [c]a little folding of the hands to sleep.
11 Therefore thy poverty cometh as one that [d]traveleth by the way, and thy necessity like [e]an armed man.
12 The unthrifty man [f]and the wicked man walketh with a froward mouth.
13 He maketh a sign with his eyes: he [g]signifieth with his feet: he [h]instructeth with his fingers.
14 Lewd things are in his heart: he imagineth evil at all times, and raiseth up contentions.
15 Therefore shall his destruction come speedily: he shall be destroyed suddenly without recovery.
16 ¶ These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, his soul abhorreth seven:
17 The haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and the hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that imagineth wicked enterprises, [i]feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that raiseth up contentions among [j]brethren.
20 ¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not thy mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them always upon thine [k]heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22 It shall lead thee when thou walkest: it shall watch for thee when thou sleepest, and when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee.
23 For the [l]commandment is a lantern, and instruction a light: and [m]corrections for instruction are the way of life,
24 To keep thee from the wicked woman, and from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Desire not her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her [n]eye lids.
26 For because of the whorish woman, a man is brought to a morsel of bread, and a woman will hunt for the precious life of a man.
27 [o]Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt?
28 Or can a man go upon coals, and his feet not be burnt?
29 So he that goeth into his neighbor’s wife, shall not be innocent, whosoever toucheth her.
30 Men do not [p]despise a thief, when he stealeth to satisfy his [q]soul, because he is hungry.
31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold, or he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But he that commiteth adultery with a woman, he [r]is destitute of understanding: he that doeth it, destroyeth his own soul.
33 He shall find [s]a wound and dishonor, and his reproach shall never be put away.
34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not [t]spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He cannot bear the sight of any ransom: neither will he consent, though thou augment the gifts.
7 1 An exhortation to wisdom and to the word of God. 5 Which will preserve us from the harlot, 6 Whose manners are described.
1 My son keep my words, and hide my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live, and mine instruction, as the [u]apple of thine eyes.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, and write them upon the table of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman,
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, even from the strange that is smooth in her words.
6 ¶ [v]As I was in the window of mine house, I looked through my window,
7 And I saw among the fools, and considered among the children a young man destitute of understanding,
8 Who passed through the street by her corner, and went toward her house,
9 In the twilight in the evening, when the night began to be [w]black and dark.
10 And behold, there met him a woman with an harlot’s [x]behavior, and [y]subtle in heart.
11 (She [z]is babbling and loud, whose feet cannot abide in her house.
12 Now she is without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner)
13 So she caught him and kissed him, and [aa]with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have [ab]peace offerings: this [ac]day have I paid my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, that I might seek thy face: and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with ornaments, [ad]carpets and laces of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us take our pleasure in dalliance.
19 For mine husband is not at home: he is gone a journey far off.
20 He hath taken [ae]with him a bag of silver, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 Thus with her great craft she caused him to yield, and with her flattering lips she enticed him.
22 And he followed her straightway, as an [af]ox that goeth to the slaughter, and [ag]as a fool to the stocks for correction,
23 Till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth to the snare, not knowing that [ah]he is in danger.
24 ¶ Hear me now therefore, O children, and hearken to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways: wander thou not in her paths.
26 For she hath caused many to fall down wounded, and the [ai]strong men are all slain by her.
27 Her house is the way (B)unto the grave, which goeth down to the chambers of death.
2 1 He excuseth his not coming unto them, 2 and privily reprehendeth them: 4 He showeth that such is his affection towards them, 5 that he never rejoiceth but when they are merry. 6 Perceiving the adulterer (whom he commanded to be delivered up to Satan) to repent, he requesteth that they forgive him. 13 He mentioneth his going into Macedonia.
1 But I determined thus in myself, that I would not come again to you in [a]heaviness.
2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that should make me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
3 And I wrote this same thing unto you, lest when I came, I should take heaviness of them of whom I ought to rejoice: this [b]confidence have I in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
4 For in great affliction, and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears: not that ye should be made sorry, but that ye might perceive the love which I have, specially unto you.
5 [c]And if any hath caused sorrow, the same hath not made [d]me sorry, but [e]partly (lest I should more [f]charge him) you all.
6 It is sufficient unto the same man, that he was rebuked of many.
7 So that now contrariwise ye ought rather to [g]forgive him, and comfort him, lest the same should be swallowed up with overmuch heaviness.
8 Wherefore, I pray you, that you would [h]confirm your love towards him.
9 For this cause also did I write: that I might know the proof of you, whether ye would be obedient in all things.
10 To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for verily if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the [i]sight of Christ,
11 Lest Satan should circumvent us: for we are not ignorant of his [j]enterprises.
12 ¶ [k]Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s Gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother, but took my leave of them, and went away into Macedonia.
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always maketh us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the [l]savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
15 [m]For we are unto God the sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them which perish.
16 To the one we are the savor of death, unto death, and to the other the savor of life, unto life: [n]and who is sufficient for these things?
17 (A)For we are not as many, which make [o]merchandise of the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.