Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Love for the Law of the Lord
97 How I love your law!
I think about it all day long.
98 Your commandment is with me all the time
and makes me wiser than my enemies.
99 I understand more than all my teachers,
because I meditate on your instructions.
100 I have greater wisdom than those who are old,
because I obey your commands.
101 I have avoided all evil conduct,
because I want to obey your word.
102 I have not neglected your instructions,
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 How sweet is the taste of your instructions—
sweeter even than honey!
104 I gain wisdom from your laws,
and so I hate all bad conduct.
Wisdom and Stupidity
9 Wisdom has built her house and made seven columns for it. 2 She has had an animal killed for a feast, mixed spices in the wine, and set the table. 3 She has sent her servant women to call out from the highest place in town: 4 “Come in, ignorant people!” And to the foolish she says, 5 “Come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed. 6 Leave the company of ignorant people, and live. Follow the way of knowledge.”
7 If you correct conceited people, you will only be insulted. If you reprimand evil people, you will only get hurt. 8 Never correct conceited people; they will hate you for it. But if you correct the wise, they will respect you. 9 Anything you say to the wise will make them wiser. Whatever you tell the righteous will add to their knowledge.
10 (A)To be wise you must first have reverence for the Lord. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding. 11 Wisdom will add years to your life. 12 You are the one who will profit if you have wisdom, and if you reject it, you are the one who will suffer.
13 Stupidity is like a loud, ignorant, shameless woman.[a] 14 She sits at the door of her house or on a seat in the highest part of town, 15 and calls out to people passing by, who are minding their own business: 16 “Come in, ignorant people!” To the foolish she says, 17 “Stolen water is sweeter. Stolen bread tastes better.” 18 Her victims do not know that the people die who go to her house, that those who have already entered are now deep in the world of the dead.
Christ Our Helper
2 I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf—Jesus Christ, the righteous one. 2 And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.
3 If we obey God's commands, then we are sure that we know him. 4 If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us. 5 But if we obey his word, we are the ones whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God: 6 if we say that we remain in union with God, we should live just as Jesus Christ did.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.