Proverbs 16:24–30

¹⁸There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

¹³My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

¹⁴So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

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

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

²²For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

¹⁶Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

⁸It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

¹⁰³How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

⁹Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.

¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

²⁶The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

¹⁶Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

²My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

¹⁹¶ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

²⁰And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

²¹Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

²³A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

¹¹Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

¹²There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

⁵Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

²⁶The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.

¹⁵Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

¹⁶¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

¹⁷Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

¹⁸¶ And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

¹⁹From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

⁴⁷Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?

⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?

⁴⁹But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

⁹I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

⁴⁰And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

⁷All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

²³In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

⁸Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:

⁹Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.

¹⁰For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

¹¹For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

¹²Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

¹²If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

¹¹And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

¹²That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

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.

¹⁸Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

¹²¶ A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

¹⁴From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

¹⁵As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

²Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp rasor, working deceitfully.

³Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

⁴Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

⁴My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

⁴If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

¹AND there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

¹³Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

⁹He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

¹⁴But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

¹⁵This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

¹⁶For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

¹⁸A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

⁸The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

²⁹Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

³If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

⁴He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

⁵Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

¹NOW the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

⁴And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

⁷And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

⁸And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

⁹And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

¹⁰And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

¹¹And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

¹²And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

¹³And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

¹⁹A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

⁹¶ And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

²⁰For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

²⁰Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

²¹As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

²²The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

³³Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

²²An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

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:

¹⁷Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

²⁶The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.

¹⁰¶ My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

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:

³¹¶ Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

¹¹Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

¹⁷And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?

⁷Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;

⁸That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?

⁹¶ Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

¹⁹¶ Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

²⁰Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.

²¹And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me.

¹³Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

¹⁵For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

¹²¶ A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

¹³He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

⁷Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

⁸And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.

²³And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

²⁴¶ When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

²⁵Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

²⁶¶ Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

³¶ That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

¹⁰He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

²⁷An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.