Proverbs 8; Proverbs 9; 2 Corinthians 3

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Proverbs 8

1 Wisdom calls to you like someone shouting; understanding raises her voice.
2 On the hilltops along the road and at the crossroads, she stands calling.
3 Beside the city gates, at the entrances into the city, she calls out:
4 "Listen, everyone, I'm calling out to you; I am shouting to all people.
5 You who are uneducated, be smarter. You who are foolish, get understanding.
6 Listen, because I have important things to say, and what I tell you is right.
7 What I say is true, I refuse to speak evil.
8 Everything I say is honest; nothing I say is crooked or false.
9 People with good sense know what I say is true; and those with knowledge know my words are right.
10 Choose my teachings instead of silver, and knowledge rather than the finest gold.
11 Wisdom is more precious than rubies. Nothing you could want is equal to it.
12 "I am wisdom, and I am smart. I also have knowledge and good sense.
13 If you respect the Lord, you will also hate evil. I hate pride and bragging, evil ways and lies.
14 I have good sense and advice, and I have understanding and power.
15 I help kings to govern and rulers to make fair laws.
16 Princes use me to lead, and so do all important people who judge fairly.
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
18 Riches and honor are mine to give. So are wealth and lasting success.
19 What I give is better than the finest gold, better than the purest silver.
20 I do what is right and follow the path of justice.
21 I give wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures.
22 "I, wisdom, was with the Lord when he began his work, long before he made anything else.
23 I was created in the very beginning, even before the world began.
24 I was born before there were oceans, or springs overflowing with water,
25 before the hills were there, before the mountains were put in place.
26 God had not made the earth or fields, not even the first dust of the earth.
27 I was there when God put the skies in place, when he stretched the horizon over the oceans,
28 when he made the clouds above and put the deep underground springs in place.
29 I was there when he ordered the sea not to go beyond the borders he had set. I was there when he laid the earth's foundation.
30 I was like a child by his side. I was delighted every day, enjoying his presence all the time,
31 enjoying the whole world, and delighted with all its people.
32 "Now, my children, listen to me, because those who follow my ways are happy.
33 Listen to my teaching, and you will be wise; do not ignore it.
34 Happy are those who listen to me, watching at my door every day, waiting at my open doorway.
35 Those who find me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them.
36 Those who do not find me hurt themselves. Those who hate me love death."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 9

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has made its seven columns.
2 She has prepared her food and wine; she has set her table.
3 She has sent out her servant girls, and she calls out from the highest place in the city.
4 She says to those who are uneducated, "Come in here, you foolish people!
5 Come and eat my food and drink the wine I have prepared.
6 Stop your foolish ways, and you will live; take the road of understanding.
7 "If you correct someone who makes fun of wisdom, you will be insulted. If you correct an evil person, you will get hurt.
8 Do not correct those who make fun of wisdom, or they will hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you.
9 Teach the wise, and they will become even wiser; teach good people, and they will learn even more.
10 "Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord, and understanding begins with knowing the Holy One.
11 If you live wisely, you will live a long time; wisdom will add years to your life.
12 The wise person is rewarded by wisdom, but whoever makes fun of wisdom will suffer for it."
13 Foolishness is like a loud woman; she does not have wisdom or knowledge.
14 She sits at the door of her house at the highest place in the city.
15 She calls out to those who are passing by, who are going along, minding their own business.
16 She says to those who are uneducated, "Come in here, you foolish people!
17 Stolen water is sweeter, and food eaten in secret tastes better."
18 But these people don't know that everyone who goes there dies, that her guests end up deep in the grave.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Corinthians 3

1 Are we starting to brag about ourselves again? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tabletsn but on human hearts.
4 We can say this, because through Christ we feel certain before God.
5 We are not saying that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do.
6 He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. This new agreement is not a written law, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 The law that brought death was written in words on stone. It came with God's glory, which made Moses' face so bright that the Israelites could not continue to look at it. But that glory later disappeared.
8 So surely the new way that brings the Spirit has even more glory.
9 If the law that judged people guilty of sin had glory, surely the new way that makes people right with God has much greater glory.
10 That old law had glory, but it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of this new way.
11 If that law which disappeared came with glory, then this new way which continues forever has much greater glory.
12 We have this hope, so we are very bold.
13 We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face so the Israelites would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end.
14 But their minds were closed, and even today that same covering hides the meaning when they read the old agreement. That covering is taken away only through Christ.
15 Even today, when they read the law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds.
16 But when a person changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away.
17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord's glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.