Proverbs 13:16–24

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.

¹²Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

¹⁴And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

¹⁶They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

²⁷An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.

¹⁹Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

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

¹⁴Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

⁷I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

²⁸And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

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

⁷¶ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

¹THE king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

²Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.

⁴It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

⁴⁸And also thus said the king, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it.

²⁷Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

³³Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

³⁴Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

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

⁶Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

¹⁴Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

¹⁸And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

⁶³I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

⁴And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

¹⁶¶ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

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.

²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

²²He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

²³Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:

⁴²And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

¹⁰And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.

¹²Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

¹³But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

¹²To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

¹³Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

¹⁵Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

¹⁷Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

¹⁸For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

¹⁹None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

²⁰That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²⁷Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.

¹²And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

⁴And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.

³²And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out.

⁷Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

⁸¶ If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

¹⁰Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

¹⁰Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

¹¹Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

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

⁷To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

⁸But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

⁹Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

¹⁰But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

⁷If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

¹¹Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

²³But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.

⁴And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

²⁶For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

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.

⁸He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

²⁵I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

²His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

⁸And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

¹²What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

¹³His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

¹²Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

⁶Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon Israel.

²⁸The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

¹¹He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

¹⁹He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

⁹¶ Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.

⁵Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.

⁶¶ Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

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

¹⁸Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

²³Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.

²⁴For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?

²⁵The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.

²⁶The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.

²⁷And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

⁷Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.

⁸How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.

⁹The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?

¹⁰Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

⁵The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

¹⁴A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.

⁶¶ Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

⁷Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

⁸Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

¹⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

¹⁷Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

¹³Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

¹⁴Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

¹⁸Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

⁶For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

⁷If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

⁸But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

¹²For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

³⁶But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

²⁶If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.