Proverbs 23:9–14

⁷He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.

⁸Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

⁶¶ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

⁴Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

⁷¶ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

²¹For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

²²For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

²³But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

²⁴But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

²⁵And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,

²⁶Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:

²⁷For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

²⁸Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

²¹But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

²⁰And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

⁵²Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

¹⁸Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

³²¶ And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

³⁰The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.

³¹Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

³²Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

³³If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

³⁴They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

¹⁴And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

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

¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

¹¹Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;

¹²And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

¹³Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

²⁸Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

¹⁰And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

¹⁷Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

³Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

¹⁴¶ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.

²Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

³They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

⁵For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

²²Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

²³For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

²⁷Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.

⁵And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁶They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

⁹They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

²³For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

²⁵For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

¹⁹Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

²²¶ Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

²³If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;

²⁴And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

⁵For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.

³⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

³³¶ Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹MY son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

²That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

²So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

³Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

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

⁵Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

²¹Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

²⁴For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

³¹And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

⁵²Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

¹⁷Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

²⁴He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

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

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

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

³²But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

⁵To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

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