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New International Version (NIV) |
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1 Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
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1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
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2 Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.
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2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,
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3 That's right - if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer,
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3 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
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4 Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
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4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
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5 Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
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5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
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6 And here's why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.
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6 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
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7 He's a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
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7 He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
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8 He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
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8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
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9 So now you can pick out what's true and fair, find all the good trails!
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9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--every good path.
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10 Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
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10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
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11 Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you.
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11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
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12 They'll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions
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12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
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13 Of those who are lost themselves and can't tell a trail from a tumbleweed,
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13 who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
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14 These losers who make a game of evil and throw parties to celebrate perversity,
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14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
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15 Traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
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15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
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16 Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress - that smooth-talking Seductress
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16 It will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words,
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17 Who's faithless to the husband she married years ago, never gave a second thought to her promises before God.
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17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
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18 Her whole way of life is doomed; every step she takes brings her closer to hell.
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18 For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
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19 No one who joins her company ever comes back, ever sets foot on the path to real living.
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19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
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20 So - join the company of good men and women, keep your feet on the tried and true paths.
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20 Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.
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21 It's the men who walk straight who will settle this land, the women with integrity who will last here.
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21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
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22 The corrupt will lose their lives; the dishonest will be gone for good.
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22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
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| Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved. (The Message Bible Online) |
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |
