ABC: One Two Three from Proverbs

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”

3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

6 The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?

14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”

28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you.

2 For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

3 For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.

4 But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.

5 You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness,

6 so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.

7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.

8 But let us, since we belong to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

9 For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

12 But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,

13 and to respect and honor them in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

14 We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all.

15 See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, for one another, and for all.

16 Rejoice always.

17 Pray without ceasing.

18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

19 Don’t quench the Spirit.

20 Don’t despise prophesies.

21 Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

25 Brothers, pray for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

1 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.

6 This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night”;

12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!

18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.

21 Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it;

2 that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you; you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

3 Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.

5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

6 These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart;

7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.

10 It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build,

11 and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full;

12 then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

13 You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.

14 You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you;

15 for Yahweh your God among you is a jealous God; lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.

17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you.

18 You shall do that which is right and good in Yahweh’s sight; that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which Yahweh swore to your fathers,

19 to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has spoken.

20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you mean?”

21 then you shall tell your son, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;

22 and Yahweh showed great and awesome signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;

23 and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.

24 Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today.

25 It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.”

1 The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

2 to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding;

3 to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;

4 to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man:

5 that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel:

6 to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.

7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

8 My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:

9 for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.

11 If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

12 Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.

13 We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder.

14 You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.”

15 My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,

16 for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.

17 For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:

18 but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.

21 She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:

22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

23 Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.

24 Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;

25 but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;

26 I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;

27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.

28 Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;

29 because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.

30 They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

32 For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.

33 But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”

1 My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

2 So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

3 Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

5 then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

7 He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

8 that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11 Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

13 who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

15 who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

16 To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

17 who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

18 for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.

19 None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

20 that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

1 My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:

2 for length of days, and years of life, and peace, will they add to you.

3 Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

8 It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones.

9 Honor Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase:

10 so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

11 My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof:

12 for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding.

14 For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.

16 Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.

19 By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.

20 By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.

21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

22 so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck.

23 Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won’t stumble.

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

25 Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes:

26 for Yahweh will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken.

27 Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

28 Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you.

29 Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.

30 Don’t strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.

31 Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.

32 For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.

33 Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

34 Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.

35 The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.

5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.