Proverbs 8; Proverbs 9; 2 Corinthians 3

1 Doesn't Wisdom cry out and Understanding shout?

2 Atop the heights along the path, at the crossroads she takes her stand.

3 By the gate before the city, at the entrances she shouts:

4 I cry out to you, people; my voice goes out to all of humanity.

5 Understand skill, you who are naive. Take this to heart, you fools.

6 Listen, for I speak things that are correct; from my lips comes what is right.

7 My mouth utters the truth; my lips despise wickedness.

8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; nothing in them is twisted or crooked.

9 All of them are straightforward to those who understand, and upright for the knowledgeable.

10 Take my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 Wisdom is better than pearls; nothing is more delightful than she.

12 I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence; I have found knowledge and discretion.

13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, the path of evil and corrupt speech.

14 I have advice and ability, as well as understanding and strength.

15 By me kings rule, and princes issue righteous decrees.

16 By me rulers govern, and officials judge righteously.

17 I love those who love me; those who seek me will find me.

18 Riches and honor are with me, as well as enduring wealth and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold; my crops are better than choice silver.

20 I walk on the way of righteousness, on the paths of justice,

21 to provide for those who love me and to fill up their treasuries.

22 The LORD created me at the beginning of his way, before his deeds long in the past.

23 I was formed in ancient times, at the beginning, before the earth was.

24 When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs flowing with water.

25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth;

26 before God made the earth and the fields or the first of the dry land.

27 I was there when he established the heavens, when he marked out the horizon on the deep sea,

28 when he thickened the clouds above, when he secured the fountains of the deep,

29 when he set a limit for the sea, so the water couldn't go beyond his command, when he marked out the earth's foundations.

30 I was beside him as a master of crafts. I was having fun, smiling before him all the time,

31 frolicking with his inhabited earth and delighting in the human race.

32 Now children, listen to me: Happy are those who keep to my ways!

33 Listen to instruction, and be wise; don't avoid it.

34 Happy are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorposts.

35 Those who find me find life; they gain favor from the LORD.

36 Those who offend me injure themselves; all those who hate me love death.

1 Wisdom built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

2 She slaughtered her animals, mixed her wine, and set her table.

3 She sends out her female servants; she issues an invitation from the top of the city heights:

4 "Whoever is naive turn aside here," she says to those who lack sense.

5 "Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed.

6 Abandon your simplistic ways and live; walk in the way of understanding."

7 Whoever instructs the cynic gets insulted; whoever corrects the wicked gets hurt.

8 Don't correct the impudent, or they will hate you; correct the wise, and they will love you.

9 Teach the wise, and they will become wiser; inform the righteous, and their learning will increase.

10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; the knowledge of the holy one is understanding.

11 Through me your days will be many; years will be added to your life.

12 If you are wise, it is to your benefit; if you are cynical, you will bear it all alone.

13 Woman Folly is noisy; she's stupid and doesn't even know it.

14 She sits at the doorway of her house, on a seat at the city heights.

15 She invites those who pass by on the path, those going straight on their way.

16 "Whoever is naive, come in here," she says to those who lack sense.

17 "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is pleasant."

18 But they don't know that the dead are there; her guests are in the depths of the grave.

1 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? We don't need letters of introduction to you or from you like other people, do we?

2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

3 You show that you are Christ's letter, delivered by us. You weren't written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. You weren't written on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4 This is the confidence that we have through Christ in the presence of God.

5 It isn't that we ourselves are qualified to claim that anything came from us. No, our qualification is from God.

6 He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not based on what is written but on the Spirit, because what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 The ministry that brought death was carved in letters on stone tablets. It came with such glory that the Israelites couldn't look for long at Moses' face because his face was shining with glory, even though it was a fading glory.

8 Won't the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious?

9 If the ministry that brought condemnation has glory, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness?

10 In fact, what was glorious isn't glorious now, because of the glory that is brighter.

11 If the glory that fades away was glorious, how much more glorious is the one that lasts!

12 So, since we have such a hope, we act with great confidence.

13 We aren't like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn't watch the end of what was fading away.

14 But their minds were closed. Right up to the present day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. The veil is not removed because it is taken away by Christ.

15 Even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.

16 But whenever someone turns back to the Lord, the veil is removed.

17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom.

18 All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.