Proverbs 6:14–21

¹WOE to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

¹⁷Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

⁷For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

¹⁸An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

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

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

¹⁷He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.

¹⁸As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?

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.

⁴He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

²Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

⁷Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

⁸For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

⁷The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

²⁸A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.

²⁹A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.

³⁰He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass.

⁸The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

⁸He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

²⁹Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

¹¹And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.

³For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

¹³Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

¹⁴And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

²⁷When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

¹⁸Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

¹⁹How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

²⁰As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

¹HE, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

²²Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

⁵The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

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

²⁰They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.

¹⁶For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

¹⁵He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.

³²For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous.

¹A FALSE balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.

⁴Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.

¹¹¶ Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:

³Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

⁶¶ Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:

⁹¶ Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:

¹THUS saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

¹⁰There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

¹¹Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

¹²For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

¹⁸Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

²³Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good.

²¹For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:

⁴¶ Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

⁶¶ Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

¹⁰Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.

²⁹There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going:

²⁷And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

¹⁸There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:

²⁴There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:

²Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

³What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?

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

¹⁵And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

⁵Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

⁶Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

²⁵Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

⁹¶ The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

⁴An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

²⁸A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

¹HEAR the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

²By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

⁴And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.

¹⁰That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

¹⁶¶ Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

³For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

⁴None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

⁵They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

⁶Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

⁵A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.

²⁷For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

¹¹The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹¹If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

⁷Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

¹³There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

⁵Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

⁴The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

¹LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

⁶Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

⁸They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

¹⁵For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

⁵¶ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

⁴He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood:

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

¹⁷And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.

¹WOE to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

⁸He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.

⁵A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

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

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

⁹A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.

¹²Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

¹⁶¶ If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;

¹⁷Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;

¹⁸And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;

¹⁹Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

²⁰And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.

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 man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

²³But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

¹³And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

¹⁷He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.

¹⁰Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

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

¹⁰And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.

¹¹And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

¹²They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

¹³And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.

¹⁴Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

¹⁵¶ And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

⁹I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

¹⁰Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

²⁸A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.

¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

¹THOU shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

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

⁵⁹Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;

¹¹False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.

¹CHILDREN, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

¹⁶Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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.

³Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

⁴Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:

⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

⁹For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

²²Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

¹⁸¶ If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

¹¹There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

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

³Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

⁴Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:

³Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

¹⁶And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt.

⁶Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

²¹Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.