Proverbs 27

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”

¹⁴You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

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?’

²For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

¹²“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

¹⁹Moreover, the Lord will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. And the Lord will deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”

⁷For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

¹⁸For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

²⁷It is not good to eat too much honey or to search out one’s own glory.

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

¹⁹At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual,

¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.

¹²It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

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.

²⁵Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.

²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

³⁰A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

¹⁴But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.

¹⁵Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

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

¹⁸For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

⁹Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him

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

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

¹⁴When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁵If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

¹⁷You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.

⁵Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹⁷Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

²³Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart.

²⁴A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

⁸I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹⁶He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.

¹⁷Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!

⁵and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

¹⁸And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the Lord, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

¹⁹You will eat it not for one or two days, nor for five or ten or twenty days,

⁴Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?

⁵We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

⁹“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”

⁷My soul refuses to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.

¹⁶The man who strays from the path of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

²Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:

³Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

²⁰Each one should remain in the situation he was in when he was called.

¹⁰Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹Now the sea was growing worse and worse, so they said to Jonah, “What must we do to you to calm this sea for us?”

⁶“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

⁷Now the angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.

²³The heart of the wise man instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

²¹The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant speech promotes instruction.

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

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

¹⁵wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

¹⁵For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

¹⁶To the one we are an odor that brings death, to the other a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?

²⁴A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.

⁷They replied, “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

³⁰Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.

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

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.

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.

¹³You should not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, nor loot their wealth in the day of their disaster.

¹The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.

⁴²Then I can answer him who taunts, for I trust in Your word.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

⁴I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.

²⁴The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

²⁰A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.

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

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

⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁰But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness

⁷And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

²⁰Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their servants and livestock to shelter,

²¹but those who disregarded the word of the Lord left their servants and livestock in the field.

¹⁶Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

¹My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,

²⁶Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

²⁶If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,

¹⁶And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

¹⁷“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”

²²And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

²³Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

²“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and carried to Babylon.

¹³Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah instructed him, “Behold now, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable to the king. So please let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”

²He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out and ask, “What city are you from?” And if he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”

³Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”

⁶So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

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

¹³A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.

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

²⁴Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

¹⁹as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.

³Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

²⁴And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.

⁹Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the counsel of a friend is sweetness to the soul.

³Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.

⁴Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.

¹⁶And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God,

³Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

⁴Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

³Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?

⁶The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops.

¹²But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.

²⁶If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

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

²²Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.

²³For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,

¹⁵He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.

²¹For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

⁵Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

⁸All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.

¹⁶For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’

⁷All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.

⁵and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.

¹⁰Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

¹¹Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

³A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.

⁹This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

¹⁰For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.

³And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

⁷so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁶Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

⁷After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the Lord.

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”

³O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

⁵Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.

¹⁰And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish

¹¹and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores. Yet they did not repent of their deeds.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

³⁰During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.

²Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

¹⁵When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”

¹⁶Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

¹³But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die.

¹⁰Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

³²I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction:

³¹‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord God.”

⁵When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

¹⁸Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the Lord’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.

¹⁰But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

³⁶his offspring shall endure forever, and his throne before Me like the sun,

⁵He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

¹⁴He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

⁸Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.

⁹Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.