The Living Bible (204 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
My son, never forget the things I’ve taught you. If you want a long and satisfying life, closely follow my instructions.
3
Never tire of loyalty and kindness. Hold these virtues tightly. Write them deep within your heart.
4-5
If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself.
6
In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.
7-8
Don’t be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. Instead, trust and reverence the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will be given renewed health and vitality.
9-10
Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income, and he will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your wine vats with the finest wines.
11-12
Young man, do not resent it when God chastens and corrects you, for his punishment is proof of his love. Just as a father punishes a son he delights in to make him better, so the Lord corrects you.
13-15
The man who knows right from wrong
*
and has good judgment and common sense is happier than the man who is immensely rich! For such wisdom is far more valuable than precious jewels. Nothing else compares with it.
16-17
Wisdom gives: a long, good life, riches, honor, pleasure, peace.
18
Wisdom is a tree of life to those who eat her fruit; happy is the man who keeps on eating it.
19
The Lord’s wisdom founded the earth; his understanding established all the universe and space.
20
The deep fountains of the earth were broken open by his knowledge, and the skies poured down rain.
21
Have two goals: wisdom—that is, knowing and doing right—and common sense. Don’t let them slip away,
22
for they fill you with living energy and bring you honor and respect.
*
23
They keep you safe from defeat and disaster and from stumbling off the trail.
24-26
With them on guard you can sleep without fear; you need not be afraid of disaster or the plots of wicked men, for the Lord is with you; he protects you.
27-28
Don’t withhold repayment of your debts. Don’t say “some other time,” if you can pay now.
29
Don’t plot against your neighbor; he is trusting you.
30
Don’t get into needless fights.
31
Don’t envy violent men. Don’t copy their ways.
32
For such men are an abomination to the Lord, but he gives his friendship to the godly.
33
The curse of God is on the wicked, but his blessing is on the upright.
34
The Lord mocks at mockers, but helps the humble.
35
The wise are promoted to honor, but fools are promoted to shame!
Young men, listen to me as you would to your father. Listen, and grow wise, for I speak the truth—don’t turn away.
3
For I, too, was once a son, tenderly loved by my mother as an only child, and the companion of my father.
4
He told me never to forget his words. “If you follow them,” he said, “you will have a long and happy life.
5
Learn to be wise,” he said, “and develop good judgment and common sense! I cannot overemphasize this point.”
*
6
Cling to wisdom—she will protect you. Love her—she will guard you.
7
Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And with your wisdom, develop common sense and good judgment.
8-9
If you exalt wisdom, she will exalt you. Hold her fast, and she will lead you to great honor; she will place a beautiful crown upon your head.
10
My son, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.
11
I would have you learn this great fact: that a life of doing right is the wisest life there is.
12
If you live that kind of life, you’ll not limp or stumble as you run.
13
Carry out my instructions; don’t forget them, for they will lead you to real living.
14
Don’t do as the wicked do.
15
Avoid their haunts—turn away, go somewhere else,
16
for evil men can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest unless they cause someone to stumble and fall.
17
They eat and drink wickedness and violence!
18
But the good man walks along in the ever-brightening light of God’s favor; the dawn gives way to morning splendor,
19
while the evil man gropes and stumbles in the dark.
20
Listen, son of mine, to what I say. Listen carefully.
21
Keep these thoughts ever in mind; let them penetrate deep within your heart,
22
for they will mean real life for you and radiant health.
23
Above all else, guard your affections.
For they influence everything else in your life.
24
Spurn the careless kiss of a prostitute.
*
Stay far from her.
25
Look straight ahead; don’t even turn your head to look.
26
Watch your step. Stick to the path and be safe.
27
Don’t sidetrack; pull back your foot from danger.
Listen to me, my son! I know what I am saying;
listen!
2
Watch yourself, lest you be indiscreet and betray some vital information.
3
For the lips of a prostitute
*
are as sweet as honey, and smooth flattery is her stock-in-trade.
4
But afterwards only a bitter conscience is left to you,
*
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5
She leads you down to death and hell.
6
For she does not know the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t even realize where it leads.
7
Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I’m about to say:
8
Run from her! Don’t go near her house,
9
lest you fall to her temptation and lose your honor, and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless;
*
10
lest strangers obtain your wealth, and you become a slave of foreigners.
11
Lest afterwards you groan in anguish and in shame when syphilis
*
consumes your body,
12
and you say, “Oh, if only I had listened! If only I had not demanded my own way!
13
Oh, why wouldn’t I take advice? Why was I so stupid?
14
For now I must face public disgrace.”
15
Drink from your own well, my son—be faithful and true to your wife.
16
Why should you beget children with women of the street?
17
Why share your children with those outside your home?
18
Be happy, yes, rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19
Let her breasts and tender embrace
*
satisfy you. Let her love alone fill you with delight.
20
Why delight yourself with prostitutes, embracing what isn’t yours?
21
For God is closely watching you,
and he weighs carefully everything you do.
22
The wicked man is doomed by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.
23
He shall die because he will not listen to the truth; he has let himself be led away into incredible folly.
Son, if you endorse a note for someone you hardly know, guaranteeing his debt, you are in serious trouble.
2
You may have trapped yourself by your agreement.
3
Quick! Get out of it if you possibly can! Swallow your pride; don’t let embarrassment stand in the way. Go and beg to have your name erased.
4
Don’t put it off. Do it now. Don’t rest until you do.
5
If you can get out of this trap you have saved yourself like a deer that escapes from a hunter or a bird from the net.
6
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be wise!
7
For though they have no king to make them work,
8
yet they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
9
But you—all you do is sleep. When will you wake up?
10
“Let me sleep a little longer!” Sure, just a little more!
11
And as you sleep, poverty creeps upon you like a robber and destroys you; want attacks you in full armor.
12-13
Let me describe for you a worthless and a wicked man; first, he is a constant liar; he signals his true intentions to his friends with eyes and feet and fingers.
14
He is always thinking up new schemes to swindle people. He stirs up trouble everywhere.
15
But he will be destroyed suddenly, broken beyond hope of healing.
16-19
For there are six things the Lord hates—no, seven: haughtiness, lying, murdering, plotting evil, eagerness to do wrong, a false witness, sowing discord among brothers.
20
Young man, obey your father and your mother.
21
Take to heart all of their advice; keep in mind everything they tell you.
22
Every day and all night long their counsel will lead you and save you from harm; when you wake up in the morning, let their instructions guide you into the new day.
23
For their advice is a beam of light directed into the dark corners of your mind to warn you of danger and to give you a good life.
24
Their counsel will keep you far away from prostitutes, with all their flatteries, and unfaithful wives of other men.
25
Don’t lust for their beauty. Don’t let their coyness seduce you.
26
For a prostitute will bring a man to poverty, and an adulteress may cost him his very life.
27
Can a man hold fire against his chest and not be burned?
28
Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?
29
So it is with the man who commits adultery with another’s wife. He shall not go unpunished for this sin.
30
Excuses might even be found for a thief if he steals when he is starving!
31
But even so, he is fined seven times as much as he stole, though it may mean selling everything in his house to pay it back.
32
But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul.
33
Wounds and constant disgrace are his lot,
34
for the woman’s husband will be furious in his jealousy, and he will have no mercy on you in his day of vengeance.
35
You won’t be able to buy him off no matter what you offer.