Proverbs 13:14–18

¹¹The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

²⁷The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

⁵The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

⁶The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

⁷In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

¹⁷The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

³The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

²⁴The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

²²Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.

¹¹For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

¹⁹Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

¹⁰Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.

²¹What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

¹⁰And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

⁴So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

⁹When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

¹⁰Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

¹¹Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

¹⁴And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.

¹⁵Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.

¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

³⁵The king’s favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.

²The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

¹⁷Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

²²Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.

²³A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.

³Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

¹³¶ Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

¹⁹For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

²⁰Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

¹⁰¶ And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

¹¹Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?

¹⁷Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

²⁵Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

¹⁶¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

²⁴Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.

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

¹³As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.

²Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

²⁰Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

⁷¶ So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

⁸When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

¹²And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

²And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

¹⁸When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

¹⁷For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

¹³And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

¹⁴I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

¹⁶Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

²⁸The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.

²⁶As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

²³The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.

⁶He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.

⁵A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

³¹The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

³²He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

¹WHOSO loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

¹³Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.

¹²As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

⁶Many will intreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.

⁹Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

¹⁰Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

¹¹And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

¹²And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

¹³And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

¹⁴I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

⁹Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

²⁵See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

³O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

⁴Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.

⁵I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

⁶Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

⁷¶ How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.

⁸They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

⁹Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

⁵Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.