Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
97 How I love your teachings!
I think about them all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies
because they are mine forever.
99 I am wiser than all my teachers
because I think about your rules.
100 I have more understanding than the elders
because I follow your orders.
101 I have avoided every evil way
so I could obey your word.
102 I haven’t stopped obeying your laws
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 Your promises are so sweet to me.
They are like honey to my mouth!
104 Your orders give me understanding.
So I hate lying ways.
Being Wise or Foolish
9 Wisdom has built her house.
She has made its seven columns.
2 She has prepared her food and wine.
She has set her table.
3 She has sent out her servant girls.
She calls out from the highest place in the city.
4 She says to those who are not wise,
“Come in here, you foolish people!
5 Come and eat my food.
And drink the wine I have prepared.
6 Stop your foolish ways, and you will live.
Be a person of understanding.
7 “If you correct someone who makes fun of wisdom, you will get insulted.
If you correct an evil person, you will get hurt.
8 Do not correct someone who makes fun of wisdom, or he will hate you.
But correct a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Teach a wise man, and he will become even wiser.
Teach a good man, and he will learn even more.
10 “Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord.
And understanding begins with knowing God, the Holy One.
11 If you live wisely, you will live a long time.
Wisdom will add years to your life.
12 The wise person is rewarded by his wisdom.
But a person who makes fun of wisdom will suffer for it.”
13 Foolishness is like a loud woman.
She does not have wisdom or knowledge.
14 She sits at the door of her house.
It is at the highest place in the city.
15 She calls out to those who are passing by.
They are minding their own business.
16 She says to those who are not wise,
“Come in here, you foolish people!
17 Stolen water is sweeter.
Stolen food tastes better.”
18 But these people don’t know that everyone dies who goes there.
They don’t realize that her guests are deep in the grave.
Jesus Is Our Helper
2 My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He is the Righteous One. He defends us before God the Father. 2 Jesus died in our place to take away our sins. And Jesus is the way that all people can have their sins taken away, too.
3 If we obey what God has told us to do, then we are sure that we truly know God. 4 If someone says, “I know God!” but does not obey God’s commands, then he is a liar. The truth is not in him. 5 But if someone obeys God’s teaching, then God’s love has truly arrived at its goal in him. This is how we know that we are following God: 6 Whoever says that God lives in him must live as Jesus lived.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.