Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 Worship the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 Because God secures the bars on your gates,
God blesses the children you have there.
14 God establishes your borders peacefully.
God fills you full with the very best wheat.
15 God issues his command to the earth—
God’s word speeds off fast!
16 God spreads snow like it was wool;
God scatters frost like it was ashes;
17 God throws his hail down like crumbs—
who can endure God’s freezing cold?
18 Then God issues his word and melts it all away!
God makes his winds blow;
the water flows again.
19 God proclaims his word to Jacob;
his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 God hasn’t done that with any other nation;
those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules.[a]
Praise the Lord!
Purpose of Proverbs
1 The proverbs of Solomon, King David’s son, from Israel:
2 Their purpose is to teach wisdom and discipline,
to help one understand wise sayings.
3 They provide insightful instruction,
which is righteous, just, and full of integrity.
4 They make the naive mature,
the young knowledgeable and discreet.
5 The wise hear them and grow in wisdom;
those with understanding gain guidance.
6 They help one understand proverbs and difficult sayings,
the words of the wise, and their puzzles.
7 Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Wisdom from above
13 Are any of you wise and understanding? Show that your actions are good with a humble lifestyle that comes from wisdom. 14 However, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, then stop bragging and living in ways that deny the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above. Instead, it is from the earth, natural and demonic. 16 Wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and everything that is evil. 17 What of the wisdom from above? First, it is pure, and then peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good actions, fair, and genuine. 18 Those who make peace sow the seeds of justice by their peaceful acts.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible