Day 194: Proverbs 3 - 6
Bible in a year reading for day 194.
Proverbs 3
- 11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;
- 12 for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.
- 13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,
- 14 for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold.
- 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.
- 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
- 17 All her ways are pleasant, and all her paths are peaceful.
- 18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- 19 The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.
- 20 By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
- 21 My son, do not lose sight of this: Preserve sound judgment and discernment.
- 22 They will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck.
- 23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
- 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.
- 25 Do not fear sudden danger or the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
- 26 for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from the snare.
- 27 Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act.
- 28 Do not tell your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I will provide”— when you already have the means.
- 29 Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he trustfully dwells beside you.
- 30 Do not accuse a man without cause, when he has done you no harm.
- 31 Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;
- 32 for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.
- 33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the righteous.
- 34 He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.
- 35 The wise will inherit honor, but fools are held up to shame.
Proverbs 4
- 1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
- 2 For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.
- 3 When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,
- 4 he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live.
- 5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.
- 6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.
- 7 Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.
- 8 Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.
- 9 She will set a garland of grace on your head; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”
- 10 Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.
- 11 I will guide you in the way of wisdom; I will lead you on straight paths.
- 12 When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.
- 13 Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.
- 14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
- 15 Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by.
- 16 For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.
- 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
- 18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- 19 But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- 20 My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
- 21 Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.
- 22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
- 23 Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
- 24 Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.
- 25 Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
- 26 Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
- 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.
Proverbs 5
- 1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
- 2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
- 3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- 4 in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
- 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
- 6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
- 7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
- 8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
- 9 lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
- 10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
- 11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
- 12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
- 13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
- 14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
- 15 Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
- 16 Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
- 17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
- 18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
- 19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
- 20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
- 21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
- 22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- 23 He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
Proverbs 6
- 1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,
- 2 if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
- 3 then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor.
- 4 Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.
- 5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
- 6 Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.
- 7 Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,
- 8 it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.
- 9 How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?
- 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,