Proverbs 3; Proverbs 4; Proverbs 5; 2 Corinthians 1

Proverbs 3

1 My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments;

2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you.

3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.

9 Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;

10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.

11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof,

12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding.

14 For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her.

16 Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are pleasant ways And all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast.

19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens.

20 By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew.

21 My son, let them not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion,

22 So they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck.

23 Then you will walk in your way securely And your foot will not stumble.

24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

25 Do not be afraid of sudden fear Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;

26 For the LORD will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.

28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you.

29 Do not devise harm against your neighbor, While he lives securely beside you.

30 Do not contend with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.

31 Do not envy a man of violence And do not choose any of his ways.

32 For the devious are an abomination to the LORD ; But He is intimate with the upright.

33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the afflicted.

35 The wise will inherit honor, But fools display dishonor.

Proverbs 4

1 Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding,

2 For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.

3 When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

4 Then he taught me and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live;

5 Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

6 "Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.

7 "The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.

8 "Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her.

9 "She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty."

10 Hear, my son, and accept my sayings And the years of your life will be many.

11 I have directed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths.

12 When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; And if you run, you will not stumble.

13 Take hold of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life.

14 Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on.

16 For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

17 For they eat the bread of wickedness And drink the wine of violence.

18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.

20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body.

23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth And put devious speech far from you.

25 Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

26 Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established.

27 Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

Proverbs 5

1 My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding;

2 That you may observe discretion And your lips may reserve knowledge.

3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey And smoother than oil is her speech;

4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol.

6 She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

7 Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8 Keep your way far from her And do not go near the door of her house,

9 Or you will give your vigor to others And your years to the cruel one;

10 And strangers will be filled with your strength And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien;

11 And you groan at your final end, When your flesh and your body are consumed;

12 And you say, "How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof!

13 "I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!

14 "I was almost in utter ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation."

15 Drink water from your own cistern And fresh water from your own well.

16 Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?

17 Let them be yours alone And not for strangers with you.

18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.

20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD , And He watches all his paths.

22 His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will be held with the cords of his sin.

23 He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

2 Corinthians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;

7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively , beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;

9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

12 For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end;

14 just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

15 In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing;

16 that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea.

17 Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time?

18 But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

19 For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us-by me and Silvanus and Timothy -was not yes and no, but is yes in Him.

20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

23 But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.

24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.