Day 9 The Wisdom Books in a Month

Proverbs 2

1 [My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee; 2 thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son. 3 For if thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding; 4 and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures; 5 then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding, 7 and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way; 8 that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright. 10 For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul, 11 good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee; 12 to deliver thee from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully. 13 Alas [for those] who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness; 14 who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness; 15 whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding; 16 to remove thee far from the straight way, and to estrange thee from a righteous purpose. [My] son, let not evil counsel overtake thee, 17 [of her] who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God. 18 For she has fixed her house near death, and [guided] her wheels near Hades with the giants. 19 None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life. 20 For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy. 21 For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it. 22 The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.

Proverbs 3

1 [My] son, forget not my laws; but let thine heart keep my words: 2 for length of existence, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; but bind them about thy neck: 4 so shalt thou find favour: and do thou provide things honest in the sight of the Lord, and of men. 5 Trust in God with all thine heart; and be not exalted in thine own wisdom. 6 In all thy ways acquaint thyself with her, that she may rightly direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own conceit; but fear God, and depart from all evil. 8 Then shall there be health to thy body, and good keeping to thy bones. 9 Honour the Lord with thy just labours, and give him the first of thy fruits of righteousness: 10 that thy storehouses may be completely filled with corn, and that thy presses may burst forth with wine. 11 [My] son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 12 for whom the Lord loves, he rebukes, and scourges every son whom he receives. 13 Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and the mortal who knows prudence. 14 For it is better to traffic for her, than for treasures of gold and silver. 15 And she is more valuable than precious stones: no evil thing shall resist her: she is well known to all that approach her, and no precious thing is equal to her in value. 16 For length of existence and years of life are in her right hand; and in her left hand are wealth and glory: 16a out of her mouth proceeds righteousness, and she carries law and mercy upon her tongue. 17 Her ways are good ways, and all her paths are peaceful. 18 She is a tree of life to all that lay hold upon her; and she is [a] secure [help] to all that stay themselves on her, as on the Lord. 19 God by wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence he prepared the heavens. 20 By understanding were the depths broken up, and the clouds dropped water. 21 [My] son, let [them] not pass from [thee], but keep my counsel and understanding: 22 that thy soul may live, and that there may be grace round thy neck; 22a and it shall be health to thy flesh, and safety to thy bones: 23 that thou mayest go confidently in peace in all thy ways, and that thy foot may not stumble. 24 For if thou rest, thou shalt be undismayed; and if thou sleep, thou shalt slumber sweetly. 25 And thou shalt not be afraid of alarm coming upon thee, neither of approaching attacks of ungodly men. 26 For the Lord shall be over all thy ways, and shall establish thy foot that thou be not moved. 27 Forbear not to do good to the poor, whensoever thy hand may have [power] to help [him]. 28 Say not, Come back another time, to-morrow I will give; while thou art able to do [him] good: for thou knowest not what the next day will bring forth. 29 Devise not evil against thy friend, living near thee and trusting in thee. 30 Be not ready to quarrel with a man without a cause, lest he do thee some harm. 31 Procure not the reproaches of bad men, neither do thou covet their ways. 32 For every transgressor is unclean before the Lord; neither does he sit among the righteous. 33 The curse of God is in the houses of the ungodly; but the habitations of the just are blessed. 34 The Lord resists the proud; but he gives grace to the humble. 35 The wise shall inherit glory; but the ungodly have exalted [their own] dishonour.

Proverbs 4

1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you a good gift; forsake ye not my law. 3 For I also was a son obedient to [my] father, and loved in the sight of [my] mother: 4 who spoke and instructed me, [saying], Let our speech be fixed in thine heart, keep [our] commandments, forget them not: 5 and do not neglect the speech of my mouth. 6 And forsake it not, and it shall cleave to thee: love it, and it shall keep thee. 8 Secure it, and it shall exalt thee: honour it, that it may embrace thee; 9 that it may give unto thy head a crown of graces, and may cover thee with a crown of delight. 10 Hear, [my] son, and receive my words; and the years of thy life shall be increased, that the resources of thy life may be many. 11 For I teach thee the ways of wisdom; and I cause thee to go in right paths. 12 For when thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not be distressed. 13 Take hold of my instruction; let it not go,—but keep it for thyself for thy life. 14 Go not in the ways of the ungodly, neither covet the ways of transgressors. 15 In whatever place they shall pitch their camp, go not thither; but turn from them, and pass away. 16 For they cannot sleep, unless they have done evil: their sleep is taken away, and they rest not. 17 For these live upon the bread of ungodliness, and are drunken with wine of transgression. 18 But the ways of the righteous shine like light; they go on and shine, until the day be fully come. 19 But the ways of the ungodly are dark; they know not how they stumble. 20 [My] son, attend to my speech; and apply thine ear to my words: 21 that thy fountains may not fail thee; keep them in [thine] heart. 22 For they are life to those that find them, and health to all [their] flesh. 23 Keep thine heart with the utmost care; for out of these are the issues of life. 24 Remove from thee a froward mouth, and put far away from thee unjust lips. 25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids assent [to] just [things]. 26 Make straight paths for thy feet, and order thy ways aright. 27 Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away thy foot from an evil way: 27a [for God knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are crooked:] 27b and he will make thy ways straight, and will guide thy steps in peace.

Proverbs 5

1 [My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply thine ear to my words; 2 that thou mayest keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives thee a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman; 3 for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases thy palate: 4 but afterwards thou wilt find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword. 5 For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established. 6 For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known. 7 Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect. 8 Remove thy way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house: 9 lest thou give away thy life to others, and thy substance to the merciless: 10 lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours come into the houses of strangers; 11 and thou repent at last, when the flesh of thy body is consumed, 12 and thou shalt say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs! 13 I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear. 14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. 15 Drink waters out of thine own vessels, and out of thine own springing wells. 16 Let not waters out of thy fountain be spilt by thee, but let thy waters go into thy streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee. 18 Let thy fountain of water be [truly] thine own; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let [thy] loving hart and thy graceful colt company with thee, and let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; for ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased. 20 Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold thyself in the arms of a woman not thine own. 21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths. 22 Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins. 23 Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.

Proverbs 6

1 [My] son, if thou become surety for thy friend, thou shalt deliver thine hand to an enemy. 2 For a man's own lips become a strong snare to him, and he is caught with the lips of his own mouth. 3 [My] son, do what I command thee, and deliver thyself; for on thy friend's account thou art come into the power of evil [men]: faint not, but stir up even thy friend for whom thou art become surety. 4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber with thine eyelids; 5 that thou mayest deliver thyself as a doe out of the toils, and as a bird out of a snare. 6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; and see, and emulate his ways, and become wiser than he. 7 For whereas he has no husbandry, nor any one to compel him, and is under no master, 8 he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest. 8a Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work; 8b whose labours kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all: 8c though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom. 9 How long wilt thou lie, O sluggard? and when wilt thou awake out of sleep? 10 Thou sleepest a little, and thou restest a little, and thou slumberest a short [time], and thou foldest thine arms over thy breast a little. 11 Then poverty comes upon thee as an evil traveller, and want as a swift courier: 11a but if thou be diligent, thine harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier. 12 A foolish man and a transgressor goes in ways that are not good. 13 And the same winks with the eye, and makes a sign with his foot, and teaches with the beckonings of his fingers. 14 [His] perverse heart devises evils: at all times such a one causes troubles to a city. 15 Therefore his destruction shall come suddenly; overthrow and irretrievable ruin. 16 For he rejoices in all things which God hates, and he is ruined by reason of impurity of soul. 17 The eye of the haughty, a tongue unjust, hands shedding the blood of the just; 18 and a heart devising evil thoughts, and feet hastening to do evil,—[are hateful to God]. 19 An unjust witness kindles falsehoods, and brings on quarrels between brethren. 20 [My] son, keep the laws of thy father, and reject not the ordinances of thy mother: 21 but bind them upon thy soul continually, and hang them as a chain about thy neck. 22 Whensoever thou walkest, lead this along and let it be with thee; and when thou sleepest let it keep thee; that it may talk with thee when thou wakest. 23 For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light; a way of life; reproof also and correction: 24 to keep thee continually from a married woman, and from the calumny of a strange tongue. 25 Let not the desire of beauty overcome thee, neither be thou caught by thine eyes, neither be captivated with her eyelids. 26 For the value of a harlot is as much as of one loaf; and a woman hunts for the precious souls of men. 27 Shall any one bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments? 28 or will any one walk on coals of fire, and not burn his feet? 29 So is he that goes in to a married woman; he shall not be held guiltless, neither any one that touches her. 30 It is not to be wondered at if one should be taken stealing, for he steals that when hungry he may satisfy his soul: 31 but if he should be taken, he shall repay sevenfold, and shall deliver himself by giving all his goods. 32 But the adulterer through want of sense procures destruction to his soul. 33 He endures both pain and disgrace, and his reproach shall never be wiped off. 34 For the soul of her husband is full of jealousy: he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 35 He will not forego [his] enmity for any ransom: neither will he be reconciled for many gifts.