Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²¹ For my heart was grieved, embittered, and in a state of ferment, and I was pricked in my heart [as with the sharp fang of an adder].

²² So foolish, stupid, and brutish was I, and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.

²³ Nevertheless I am continually with You; You do hold my right hand.

²⁴ You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to honor and glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but You? And I have no delight or desire on earth besides You.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever.

²⁷ For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You will destroy all who are false to You and like [spiritual] harlots depart from You.

²⁸ But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God and made Him my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

25 These are also the proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied:^(A)

² It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing.^(B)

³ As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the hearts and minds of kings are unsearchable.

⁴ Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth [the material for] a vessel for the silversmith [to work up].^(C)

⁵ Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation).

⁶ Be not forward (self-assertive and boastfully ambitious) in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men;

⁷ For better it is that it should be said to you, Come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whose eyes have seen you.^(D)

⁸ Rush not forth soon to quarrel [before magistrates or elsewhere], lest you know not what to do in the end when your neighbor has put you to shame.^(E)

⁹ Argue your cause with your neighbor himself; discover not and disclose not another’s secret,^(F)

¹⁰ Lest he who hears you revile you and bring shame upon you and your ill repute have no end.

¹¹ A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver.^(G)

¹² Like an earring or nose ring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to an ear that listens and obeys.

¹³ Like the cold of snow [brought from the mountains] in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the life of his masters.

¹⁴ Whoever falsely boasts of gifts [he does not give] is like clouds and wind without rain.^(H)

¹⁵ By long forbearance and calmness of spirit a judge or ruler is persuaded, and soft speech breaks down the most bonelike resistance.^(I)

¹⁶ Have you found [pleasure sweet like] honey? Eat only as much as is sufficient for you, lest, being filled with it, you vomit it.

¹⁷ Let your foot seldom be in your neighbor’s house, lest he become tired of you and hate you.

¹⁸ A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a heavy sledgehammer and a sword and a sharp arrow.

¹⁹ Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint.

²⁰ He who sings songs to a heavy heart is like him who lays off a garment in cold weather and like vinegar upon soda.^(J)

²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;^(K)

²² For in doing so, you will ^[a]heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²³ The north wind brings forth rain; so does a backbiting tongue bring forth an angry countenance.

²⁴ It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than to share a house with a disagreeing, quarrelsome, and scolding woman.^(L)

²⁵ Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far [home] country.

²⁶ Like a muddied fountain and a polluted spring is a righteous man who yields, falls down, and compromises his integrity before the wicked.

²⁷ It is not good to eat much honey; so for men to seek glory, their own glory, causes suffering and is not glory.

²⁸ He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.^(M)

3 If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.^(A)

² And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.

³ For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

⁴ When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory.

⁵ So kill (deaden, ^[a]deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).

⁶ It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will),

⁷ Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such practices].

⁸ But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander, and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips!

⁹ Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices,

¹⁰ And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect ^[b]knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it.^(B)

¹¹ [In this new creation all distinctions vanish.] There ^[c]is no room for and there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, [nor difference between nations whether alien] barbarians or Scythians [^[d]who are the most savage of all], nor slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all [^[e]everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person].