The Bible Part 130

2:19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

2:20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

2:21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of G.o.d and man.

3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 3:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

3:14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.

3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

3:16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

3:18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

3:19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

3:21 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: 3:22 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

3:23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

3:26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

3:27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

3:28 Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

3:29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

3:30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

3:31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

3:32 For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

3:33 The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.

3:34 Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

3:35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

4:2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

4:3 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

4:4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

4:6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

4:7 Wisdom is the princ.i.p.al thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

4:8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

4:9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

4:10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

4:11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

4:12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

4:13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

4:15 Avoid it, pa.s.s not by it, turn from it, and pa.s.s away.

4:16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

4:17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

4:18 But the path of the just is as the s.h.i.+ning light, that s.h.i.+neth more and more unto the perfect day.

4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

4:21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

4:22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

4:24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

4:27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: 5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on h.e.l.l.

5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and a.s.sembly.

5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her b.r.e.a.s.t.s satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

5:23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

6:3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

6:4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

6:5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 6:7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 6:8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

6:12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

6:13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 6:14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

6:15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

6:20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 6:21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

6:22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

6:25 l.u.s.t not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adultress will hunt for the precious life.

6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; 6:31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

6:34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.