Proverbs 24

⁷Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the Lord.

³¹Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;

⁵Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?

⁶But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

¹Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.

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

¹⁴Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

³Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.

⁷His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

⁴No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

³⁵They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”

⁹When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

⁷rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

¹²The Lord made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

²⁶so that Your name will be magnified forever when it is said, ‘The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel.’ And the house of Your servant David will be established before You.

⁶The house of the righteous has great treasure, but the income of the wicked is trouble.

²⁰Precious treasures and oil are in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man consumes them.

¹⁵There is an abundance of gold and rubies, but lips of knowledge are a rare treasure.

²¹bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

⁵²Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

²Now with all my ability I have made provision for the house of my God—gold for the gold articles, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and slabs of marble—all in abundance.

³Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give for it my personal treasures of gold and silver, over and above all that I have provided for this holy temple:

¹⁹Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.

¹¹being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully

³¹But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.

¹⁴Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.

⁷They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.

¹⁴For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.

¹⁸Set plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

²²Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

³¹Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

¹¹But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.

⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.

⁵He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.

¹⁴The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

⁵How great are Your works, O Lord, how deep are Your thoughts!

⁶A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

¹⁰There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

¹¹Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.

¹⁰This is what the Lord God says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

¹¹You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will come against a quiet people who dwell securely, all of them living without walls or bars or gates—

³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.

¹¹From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the Lord, a counselor of wickedness.

¹⁴With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

⁵We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

⁸Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger.

²²Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart.

⁴But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you harbor evil in your hearts?

²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

²⁹He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

¹³So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

⁴⁶Do not let your heart grow faint, and do not be afraid when the rumor is heard in the land; for a rumor will come one year—and then another the next year—of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.

³Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

⁴In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

¹David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

⁵But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

⁴Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.

⁶Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

⁷Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

¹⁶By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

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?

¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.

³¹Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³²So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side.

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can extend a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”

¹¹For according to a man’s deeds He repays him; according to a man’s ways He brings consequences.

¹⁰I, the Lord, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

²³Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

⁶God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”

⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the Lord does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord sees the heart.”

⁸The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.

¹⁵By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.

¹I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.

¹⁶If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.

¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

⁴John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

¹⁰³How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!

²⁵But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

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

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O Lord God of Hosts.

¹⁰³How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!

¹⁸For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁸for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁴but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.

¹⁸So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

¹⁹He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

¹¹And as they were climbing the hill to the city, they met some young women coming out to draw water and asked, “Is the seer here?”

⁴and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.

²⁰Now, O king, come down whenever your soul desires, and we will be responsible for delivering him into your hand.”

²¹“May you be blessed by the Lord,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.

¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

²⁴Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the Lord is holding his hand.

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

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.

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.

⁸We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

¹²But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.

²⁹If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

⁶Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

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

⁵As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.

⁶He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.

¹⁰Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

²¹So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

²²O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

¹⁵but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the Lord of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the Lord.

¹Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.

¹Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

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

¹Do not envy wicked men or desire their company;

³For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

⁵Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁶The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

⁶On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.

¹⁸For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God.

²Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority,

¹⁴or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

¹Remind the believers to submit to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work,

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,

³¹When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

²¹“Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

³¹As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

¹¹Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.

⁷There the people of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the slaughter was great that day—twenty thousand men.

⁸The battle spread over the whole countryside, and that day the forest devoured more people than the sword.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.

¹⁶So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.

¹⁷Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁴The wrath of a king is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

²¹To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.

⁵Showing partiality to the wicked is not good, nor is depriving the innocent of justice.

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

¹⁵You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

⁴³Let him who is wise pay heed to these things and consider the loving devotion of the Lord.

²“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

³Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

¹⁵Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the Lord.

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

²⁶The people will curse the hoarder of grain, but blessing will crown the one who sells it.

⁶You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.

⁷Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

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

¹⁰Do not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

¹³I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed God and he did not restrain them.

²³He who rebukes a man will later find more favor than one who flatters with his tongue.

⁸And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.

⁹Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.

¹⁹Tell him that this is what the Lord says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the Lord says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”

²⁰When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.

⁷and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them

⁸and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.

²³A man takes joy in a fitting reply—and how good is a timely word!

³⁸So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?”

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

¹²Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.

²⁵How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the Lord.

³²“Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him,

³³and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

²⁸Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,

¹⁷And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

¹⁸So Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.

⁷The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

⁶⁰But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward

¹⁸Like a club or sword or sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.

⁹In the letters she wrote: “Proclaim a fast and give Naboth a seat of honor among the people.

¹⁰But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

⁹Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,

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

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

¹⁸If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

²²Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the Lord, and He will save you.

¹⁵Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.

³⁹But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;

⁴⁰if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

²²For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²²And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.

²³Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.

¹¹The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.

⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,

⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

¹⁰Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

⁸As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.

³²He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.

⁵Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

¹⁸Through laziness the roof caves in, and in the hands of the idle, the house leaks.

¹⁷And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

³For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.

¹³The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

²²The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

²¹Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

⁵¹Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

⁶These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.

¹⁷What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,

¹¹Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.

⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

¹¹And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

¹⁴So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

⁴Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

⁴The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.