Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the Law of the LORD. And on His Law does he meditate day and night.
3 For he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that will bring forth her fruits in due season; whose leaf shall not fade. So, whatever he shall do shall prosper.
4 The wicked are not so; but are as the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous. And the way of the wicked shall perish.
5 My son, hearken to my wisdom. Incline your ear to my knowledge,
2 that you may regard counsel and your lips observe knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb. And her mouth is more soft than oil.
4 But the end of her is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on Hell.
6 She does not weigh the way of life. Her paths are moveable. You cannot know them.
7 Hear me now, therefore, O children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her and do not come near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel;
10 lest the stranger should be filled with your strength and your labors be in the house of a stranger.
11 And you mourn at your end (when you have consumed your flesh and your body)
12 and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction;
13 “and have not obeyed the voice of those who taught me, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me?!
14 “I was almost brought into all evil in the midst of the Congregation and assembly.”
15 Drink the water of your cistern, and of the rivers out of the midst of your own well.
16 Let your fountains flow forth, and the rivers of waters in the streets.
17 But let them be yours—and yours only—and not the strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed. And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 Let her be as the loving deer and pleasant roe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Delight in her love continually.
20 For why should you delight, my son, in a strange woman; or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD. And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, himself, and he shall be seized with the cords of his own sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction, and shall go astray through his great folly.
34 “Salt is good. But if salt has lost its savor, with what shall it be salted?
35 “It is fit neither for the land nor for manure. But it is cast out. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
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