Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
73 How good God is to Israel—to those whose hearts are pure. 2 But as for me, I came so close to the edge of the cliff! My feet were slipping and I was almost gone. 3 For I was envious of the prosperity of the proud and wicked. 4 Yes, all through life their road is smooth![a] They grow sleek and fat. 5 They aren’t always in trouble and plagued with problems like everyone else, 6 so their pride sparkles like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty! 7 These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! 8 They scoff at God and threaten his people. How proudly they speak! 9 They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut through the earth.
10 And so God’s people are dismayed and confused and drink it all in. 11 “Does God realize what is going on?” they ask. 12 “Look at these men of arrogance; they never have to lift a finger—theirs is a life of ease; and all the time their riches multiply.”
13 Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure? 14 All I get out of it is trouble and woe—every day and all day long! 15 If I had really said that, I would have been a traitor to your people. 16 Yet it is so hard to explain it—this prosperity of those who hate the Lord. 17 Then one day I went into God’s sanctuary to meditate and thought about the future of these evil men. 18 What a slippery path they are on—suddenly God will send them sliding over the edge of the cliff and down to their destruction: 19 an instant end to all their happiness, an eternity of terror. 20 Their present life is only a dream! They will awaken to the truth as one awakens from a dream of things that never really were!
11 The Lord hates cheating and delights in honesty.
2 Proud men end in shame, but the meek become wise.
3 A good man is guided by his honesty; the evil man is destroyed by his dishonesty.
4 Your riches won’t help you on Judgment Day; only righteousness counts then.
5 Good people are directed by their honesty; the wicked shall fall beneath their load of sins.
6 The good man’s goodness delivers him; the evil man’s treachery is his undoing.
7 When an evil man dies, his hopes all perish, for they are based upon this earthly life.
8 God rescues good men from danger while letting the wicked fall into it.
9 Evil words destroy; godly skill rebuilds.[a]
10 The whole city celebrates a good man’s success—and also the godless man’s death.
11 The good influence of godly citizens causes a city to prosper, but the moral decay of the wicked drives it downhill.
12 To quarrel with a neighbor is foolish; a man with good sense holds his tongue.
13 A gossip goes around spreading rumors, while a trustworthy man tries to quiet them.
14 Without wise leadership, a nation is in trouble; but with good counselors there is safety.
15 Be sure you know a person well before you vouch for his credit! Better refuse than suffer later.
16 Honor goes to kind and gracious women, mere[b] money to cruel men.
17 Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel.
18 The evil man gets rich for the moment, but the good man’s reward lasts forever.
19 The good man finds life; the evil man, death.
20 The Lord hates the stubborn but delights in those who are good.
21 You can be very sure the evil man will not go unpunished forever. And you can also be very sure God will rescue the children of the godly.
22 A beautiful woman lacking discretion and modesty is like a fine gold ring in a pig’s snout.
23 The good man can look forward to happiness, while the wicked can expect only wrath.
24-25 It is possible to give away and become richer! It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. Yes, the liberal man shall be rich! By watering others, he waters himself.
26 People curse the man who holds his grain for higher prices, but they bless the man who sells it to them in their time of need.
27 If you search for good, you will find God’s favor; if you search for evil, you will find his curse.
28 Trust in your money and down you go! Trust in God and flourish as a tree!
29 The fool who provokes his family to anger and resentment will finally have nothing worthwhile left. He shall be the servant of a wiser man.
30 Godly men are growing a tree that bears life-giving fruit, and all who win souls are wise.[c]
31 Even the godly shall be rewarded here on earth; how much more the wicked!
3 If you want to keep from becoming fainthearted and weary, think about his patience as sinful men did such terrible things to him. 4 After all, you have never yet struggled against sin and temptation until you sweat great drops of blood.
5 And have you quite forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his child? He said, “My son, don’t be angry when the Lord punishes you. Don’t be discouraged when he has to show you where you are wrong. 6 For when he punishes you, it proves that he loves you. When he whips you, it proves you are really his child.”
7 Let God train you, for he is doing what any loving father does for his children. Whoever heard of a son who was never corrected? 8 If God doesn’t punish you when you need it, as other fathers punish their sons, then it means that you aren’t really God’s son at all—that you don’t really belong in his family. 9 Since we respect our fathers here on earth, though they punish us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to God’s training so that we can begin really to live?
10 Our earthly fathers trained us for a few brief years, doing the best for us that they knew how, but God’s correction is always right and for our best good, that we may share his holiness. 11 Being punished isn’t enjoyable while it is happening—it hurts! But afterwards we can see the result, a quiet growth in grace and character.
12 So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs, 13 and mark out a straight, smooth path for your feet so that those who follow you, though weak and lame, will not fall and hurt themselves but become strong.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.