Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
מ MEM
97 Oh, how I love Your law!
(A)It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me (B)wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
(C)For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 (D)I understand more than the [a]ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102 I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103 (E)How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
The Way of Wisdom
9 Wisdom has (A)built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2 (B)She has slaughtered her meat,
(C)She has mixed her wine,
She has also [a]furnished her table.
3 She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
4 “Whoever(D) is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
5 “Come,(E) eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.
7 “He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
8 (F)Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
(G)Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, (H)and he will increase in learning.
10 “The(I) fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 (J)For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
12 (K)If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”
The Way of Folly
13 (L)A foolish woman is [b]clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat (M)by the highest places of the city,
15 To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way:
16 “Whoever(N) is [c]simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen(O) water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that (P)the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of [d]hell.
The Test of Knowing Christ
2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, (A)we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And (B)He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but (C)also for the whole world.
The Test of Knowing Him
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a (D)liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But (E)whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God [a]is perfected (F)in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 (G)He who says he abides in Him (H)ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.