Proverbs 14

¹⁰A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he lacks nothing of value.

³By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established;

⁴through knowledge its rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure.

⁹Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

¹⁹Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.

¹¹“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the Lord make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

¹³The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city,

²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,

³⁵but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

⁶Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

²⁸And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

⁴Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

⁵But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

¹Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.

⁶The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁵In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.

⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

¹¹They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.

⁹that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

¹⁰Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

⁸He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

¹⁰Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

²³Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.

⁶“I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the Lord.

⁵A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.

¹⁹a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

¹“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.

¹⁷He who speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

²⁵A truthful witness saves lives, but one who utters lies is deceitful.

⁵The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

¹¹He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

¹²Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

²⁵At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

²⁶Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

⁹They are all plain to the discerning, and upright to those who find knowledge.

²The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

¹¹Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

¹¹But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

⁶Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”

²⁷If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

¹³while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

¹⁰so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

⁷³Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

²³The fool delights in shameful conduct, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

¹⁸Like a madman shooting firebrands and deadly arrows,

¹⁹so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

¹⁵Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the faithless is difficult.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

¹⁸when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.”

⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?

¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

¹³A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance, but sorrow of the heart crushes the spirit.

¹⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.

¹“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

³³The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the righteous.

⁷The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.

²⁶But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

²⁷The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’

⁴I will send it out, declares the Lord of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”

²⁵There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

¹³Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel.

³If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

²¹What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

²I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

⁹Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

²⁵But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.

⁵It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.

⁶For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.

⁹Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

⁴in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

⁸The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

¹⁴By fruitful speech a man is filled with good things, and the work of his hands returns to him.

¹²See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

⁵Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the Lord your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord God of Hosts.

⁴Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else.

¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

¹²The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

²⁶Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

³The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.

⁷Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

²²Abstain from every form of evil.

⁹If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution.

¹⁸and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live:

¹⁴Blessed is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

²⁹A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

²²An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.

⁹Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

¹⁸A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.

³²He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.

¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

⁸From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.

³⁵The wise will inherit honor, but fools are held up to shame.

²⁹He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

⁷Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.

⁸Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.

⁶Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

³Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

²⁷Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.

²⁸Pray to the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”

⁹Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the Lord, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.

¹⁴The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

⁴Wealth attracts many friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.

¹⁵The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

⁶Many seek the favor of the prince, and everyone is a friend of the gift giver.

⁷All the brothers of a poor man hate him—how much more do his friends avoid him! He may pursue them with pleading, but they are nowhere to be found.

¹⁰They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹⁰Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

¹¹Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

²¹For now you are of no help; you see terror, and you are afraid.

²²Have I ever said, ‘Give me something; offer me a bribe from your wealth;

²⁷Whoever gives to the poor will not be in need, but he who hides his eyes will receive many curses.

¹²Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks judgment, but a man of understanding remains silent.

¹⁷Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and He will repay the lender.

⁵He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

¹⁷If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.

³With a wicked man comes contempt as well, and shame is accompanied by disgrace.

²The good man obtains favor from the Lord, but the Lord condemns a man who devises evil.

⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁰All the Lord’s ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.

²²The desire of a man is loving devotion; better to be poor than a liar.

⁷The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.

⁸But a noble man makes honorable plans; he stands up for worthy causes.

¹⁹The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

¹⁰For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”

¹¹For we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives, accomplishing nothing, but being busybodies.

²⁴The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

¹⁰For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.

¹¹We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.

³As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.

²⁷Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”

¹¹Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.

¹²For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

⁹I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

¹⁹Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.

²⁰And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores

⁹He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹⁰For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.

⁵An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness pours forth lies.

¹⁶‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

²influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.

³Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

²⁷For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

²¹testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²³The fear of the Lord leads to life, that one may rest content, without visitation from harm.

³⁹I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

⁴⁰I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

¹³He will bless those who fear the Lord—small and great alike.

¹⁴May the Lord give you increase, both you and your children.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

⁷Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

⁸This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

⁷The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.

⁸Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one from the snares of death.

⁶And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,

⁶He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.

⁵The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

⁵Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.

²⁰The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

²¹And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

⁷Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”

¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

²⁷The Israelites also mobilized, gathered supplies, and marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped before them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.

³²In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory

³³from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

⁹Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

¹⁷A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, and a devious man is hated.

¹¹A man’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.

¹⁸A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.

³²He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

⁸This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

²³Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.

⁴A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but she who causes shame is like decay in his bones.

⁸⁰May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: The Lord is Maker of them all.

⁵He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.

¹⁷Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and He will repay the lender.

²¹And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.

⁸If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

¹⁸And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁸We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

²⁵But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

²⁶Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

¹⁸I await Your salvation, O Lord.

¹⁶A fool’s anger is known at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

²⁸The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked blurts out evil.

²³A shrewd man keeps his knowledge to himself, but a foolish heart proclaims its folly.

¹¹A fool vents all his anger, but a wise man holds it back.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool displays his folly.

³Even as the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking, and he shows everyone that he is a fool.

³⁴and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.

¹“Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

²And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God:

¹⁸Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

¹⁹because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

⁶Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

⁷For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

¹Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations

¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.

⁴⁵Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time?

⁴⁶Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

¹¹He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

²³His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’

²¹His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.