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 walked away from your laws,
because you yourself are my teacher.
103 Your promises are sweet to me,
sweeter than honey in 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,
and she calls out from the highest place in the city.
4 She says to those who are uneducated,
“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;
take the road of understanding.
7 “If you correct someone who makes fun of wisdom, you will be insulted.
If you correct an evil person, you will get hurt.
8 Do not correct those who make fun of wisdom, or they will hate you.
But correct the wise, and they will love you.
9 Teach the wise, and they will become even wiser;
teach good people, and they will learn even more.
10 “Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord,
and understanding begins with knowing 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 wisdom,
but whoever 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
at the highest place in the city.
15 She calls out to those who are passing by,
who are going along, minding their own business.
16 She says to those who are uneducated,
“Come in here, you foolish people!
17 Stolen water is sweeter,
and food eaten in secret tastes better.”
18 But these people don’t know that everyone who goes there dies,
that her guests end up deep in the grave.
Jesus Is Our Helper
2 My dear children, I write this letter to you so you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a helper in the presence of the Father—Jesus Christ, the One who does what is right. 2 He died in our place to take away our sins, and not only our sins but the sins of all people.
3 We can be sure that we know God if we obey his commands. 4 Anyone who says, “I know God,” but does not obey God’s commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if someone obeys God’s teaching, then in that person God’s love has truly reached its goal. This is how we can be sure we are living in God: 6 Whoever says that he lives in God must live as Jesus lived.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.