The Skeptics Annotated Bible (483 page)

19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

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

22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

(4.24-27)

24
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

(4.24)
“Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee
.” Speak plainly and honestly to others.

25
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

(4.25)
“Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.”

26
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

(4.26)
“Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.”

27
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

(4.27)
“Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”

5
My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

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

(5.3-5) The feet of strange women “go down to death,” and “her steps take hold on hell.”

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

(5.3)
“The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil.”

4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

(5.5)
“Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.”

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.

18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and
rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe;
let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

(5.18-19) “Rejoice with the wife of thy youth … Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.”

20 And
why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

(5.20) “Why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?”

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

6
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,

2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

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

13 He
winketh with his eyes
, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

(6.12-13)
“A naughty person, a wicked man … winketh with his eyes.”
Naughty, wicked people wink.

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

15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

16
These six things doth the LORD hate
: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

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

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

(6.16-19) “These six things doth the LORD hate … A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” God doesn’t love everyone. (He hates liars and gossipers.)
131 Does God love everyone?

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

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

22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

(6.24-26) Watch out for those evil, strange, and whorish women