rsv Proverbs:3-5 SEEK
Seeker Overlay ON
*
My son ,
do not forget my teaching ,
but let your heart keep my commandments ;
*
for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare will they give you .
*
Let not loyalty and faithfulness forsake you ;
bind them about your neck ,
write them on the tablet of your heart .
*
So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man .
*
Trust in the LORD with all your heart ,
and do not rely on your own insight .
*
In all your ways acknowledge him ,
and he will make straight your paths .
*
Be not wise in your own eyes ;
fear the LORD ,
and turn away from evil .
*
It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones .
*
Honor the LORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce ;
*
then your barns will be filled with plenty ,
and your vats will be bursting with wine .
*
My son ,
do not despise the LORD '
s discipline or be weary of his reproof ,
*
for the LORD reproves him whom he loves ,
as a father the son in whom he delights .
*
Happy is the man who finds wisdom ,
and the man who gets understanding ,
*
for the gain from it is better than gain from silver and its profit better than gold .
*
She is more precious than jewels ,
and nothing you desire can compare with her .
*
Long life is in her right hand ;
in her left hand are riches and honor .
*
Her ways are ways of pleasantness ,
and all her paths are peace .
*
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her ;
those who hold her fast are called happy .
*
The LORD by wisdom founded the earth ;
by understanding he established the heavens ;
*
by his knowledge the deeps broke forth ,
and the clouds drop down the dew .
*
My son ,
keep sound wisdom and discretion ;
let them not escape from your sight ,
*
and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck .
*
Then you will walk on your way securely and your foot will not stumble .
*
If you sit down ,
you will not be afraid ;
when you lie down ,
your sleep will be sweet .
*
Do not be afraid of sudden panic ,
or of the ruin of the wicked ,
when it comes ;
*
for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught .
*
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due ,
when it is in your power to do it .
*
Do not say to your neighbor , "
Go ,
and come again ,
tomorrow I will give it "--
when you have it with you .
*
Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you .
*
Do not contend with a man for no reason ,
when he has done you no harm .
*
Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways ;
*
for the perverse man is an abomination to the LORD ,
but the upright are in his confidence .
*
The LORD '
s curse is on the house of the wicked ,
but he blesses the abode of the righteous .
*
Toward the scorners he is scornful ,
but to the humble he shows favor .
*
The wise will inherit honor ,
but fools get disgrace .
*
Hear ,
O sons ,
a father '
s instruction ,
and be attentive ,
that you may gain insight ;
*
for I give you good precepts :
do not forsake my teaching .
*
When I was a son with my father ,
tender ,
the only one in the sight of my mother ,
*
he taught me ,
and said to me , "
Let your heart hold fast my words ;
keep my commandments ,
and live ;
*
do not forget ,
and do not turn away from the words of my mouth .
Get wisdom ;
get insight .
*
Do not forsake her ,
and she will keep you ;
love her ,
and she will guard you .
*
The beginning of wisdom is this :
Get wisdom ,
and whatever you get ,
get insight .
*
Prize her highly ,
and she will exalt you ;
she will honor you if you embrace her .
*
She will place on your head a fair garland ;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown ."
*
Hear ,
my son ,
and accept my words ,
that the years of your life may be many .
*
I have taught you the way of wisdom ;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness .
*
When you walk ,
your step will not be hampered ;
and if you run ,
you will not stumble .
*
Keep hold of instruction ,
do not let go ;
guard her ,
for she is your life .
*
Do not enter the path of the wicked ,
and do not walk in the way of evil men .
*
Avoid it ;
do not go on it ;
turn away from it and pass on .
*
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong ;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made some one stumble .
*
For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence .
*
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn ,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day .
*
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness ;
they do not know over what they stumble .
*
My son ,
be attentive to my words ;
incline your ear to my sayings .
*
Let them not escape from your sight ;
keep them within your heart .
*
For they are life to him who finds them ,
and healing to all his flesh .
*
Keep your heart with all vigilance ;
for from it flow the springs of life .
*
Put away from you crooked speech ,
and put devious talk far from you .
*
Let your eyes look directly forward ,
and your gaze be straight before you .
*
Take heed to the path of your feet ,
then all your ways will be sure .
*
Do not swerve to the right or to the left ;
turn your foot away from evil .
*
My son ,
be attentive to my wisdom ,
incline your ear to my understanding ;
*
that you may keep discretion ,
and your lips may guard knowledge .
*
For the lips of a loose woman drip honey ,
and her speech is smoother than oil ;
*
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood ,
sharp as a two-edged sword .
*
Her feet go down to death ;
her steps follow the path to Sheol ;
*
she does not take heed to the path of life ;
her ways wander ,
and she does not know it .
*
And now ,
O sons ,
listen to me ,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth .
*
Keep your way far from her ,
and do not go near the door of her house ;
*
lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless ;
*
lest strangers take their fill of your strength ,
and your labors go to the house of an alien ;
*
and at the end of your life you groan ,
when your flesh and body are consumed ,
*
and you say , "
How I hated discipline ,
and my heart despised reproof !
*
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors .
*
I was at the point of utter ruin in the assembled congregation ."
*
Drink water from your own cistern ,
flowing water from your own well .
*
Should your springs be scattered abroad ,
streams of water in the streets ?
*
Let them be for yourself alone ,
and not for strangers with you .
*
Let your fountain be blessed ,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth ,
*
a lovely hind ,
a graceful doe .
Let her affection fill you at all times with delight ,
be infatuated always with her love .
*
Why should you be infatuated ,
my son ,
with a loose woman and embrace the bosom of an adventuress ?
*
For a man '
s ways are before the eyes of the LORD ,
and he watches all his paths .
*
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him ,
and he is caught in the toils of his sin .
*
He dies for lack of discipline ,
and because of his great folly he is lost .
*
My son ,
if you have become surety for your neighbor ,
have given your pledge for a stranger ;