Proverbs 12:2–6

³⁵For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.

²⁴For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.

⁵A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

⁵The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

⁶For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

⁷The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

³¹Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

⁸There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

¹⁸An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

¹⁵The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

²⁵As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

¹⁷That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

⁷Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

¹²The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.

¹⁶Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;

¹⁷He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.

¹⁸He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

¹THEY that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.

²As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.

³I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

⁴His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

⁵Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

⁵He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

³³And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

⁶Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

⁷Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

⁸He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

⁹The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

¹⁰¶ Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

¹¹The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

¹²She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

¹³She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

¹⁴She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

¹⁵She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

¹⁶She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

¹⁷She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.

¹⁸She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

¹⁹She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

²⁰She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

²²She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.

²³Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

²⁴She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

²⁵Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

³⁰A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

¹EVERY wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

¹¹Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

¹³A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

¹⁴House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the Lord.

¹⁹It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

⁹It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

¹⁵A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

¹⁶Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.

⁷For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

¹⁶When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

⁷Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

¹DELIVER me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;

²Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.

³They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.

⁶And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

⁷All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

²But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

¹⁶¶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

³When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

⁵And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet,

⁶And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

⁷Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

⁴And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.

²³The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

⁹The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

¹⁵I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

²They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

³The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:

²For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

³The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

⁴He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

³In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.

²⁶For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

¹¹If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

¹²Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

¹⁴Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

¹⁵My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

¹⁸And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

¹⁹So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

¹MOREOVER Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

³And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

⁴And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

¹²And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

¹⁵Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.

⁷And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

⁸Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people.

⁹And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

¹⁰¶ Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;

¹¹All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

¹²And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.

¹³Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.

¹⁴For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

⁴For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.

⁵¶ Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?

⁶And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

³And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him.

¹WOE is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

²The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.