Proverbs 4:17–24

⁴Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

⁵Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

¹²For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹⁷Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

¹⁷Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord.

⁴¶ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

⁵Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

⁶That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

²⁵There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

²⁶Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

²⁷Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

²⁸And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.

²⁹The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

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

²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

²⁸They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

⁵Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

⁶They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

¹³¶ But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

⁵¶ Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

³Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

¹²¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

¹⁷And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.

³And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

¹⁵That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

¹⁹We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

¹⁴Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

⁷They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

⁷The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

⁴And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

⁵And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

¹⁸But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

²³And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

⁶And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

⁷But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

³Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

¹⁰But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

⁴⁵That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

³⁵Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

⁹¶ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

¹²Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

⁵Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

⁶The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

⁹He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

¹⁸He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

¹⁰But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

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

¹¹But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

¹⁴Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

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

³Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

²⁰¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

²¹Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

¹MY son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

¹GIVE ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

¹²So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

⁵While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

²¹¶ My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

³Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

¹MY son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

²Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

⁸I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

¹MY son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

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

⁶Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.

¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

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

⁴He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

⁴⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

³⁴O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

³⁵A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

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

²⁴And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

³He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

⁹¶ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

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

²⁶He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

³⁸Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

⁹Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

¹⁵Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

⁷Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

²¹¶ My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

¹⁶A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.

¹³There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

²⁶If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

¹³The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

²⁵Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

²⁶Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

²⁷Neither give place to the devil.

²⁸Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

²⁹Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

³⁰And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

³¹Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

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

¹WHEREFORE laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

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

⁸But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

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

²⁰He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

¹⁴If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

³¹¶ Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?