Proverbs 16 Cross References - BBE

¹ The designs of the heart are man's, but the answer of the tongue comes from the Lord. ² All a man's ways are clean to himself; but the Lord puts men's spirits into his scales. ³ Put your works into the hands of the Lord, and your purposes will be made certain. ⁴ The Lord has made everything for his purpose, even the sinner for the day of evil. ⁵ Everyone who has pride in his heart is disgusting to the Lord: he will certainly not go free from punishment. ⁶ By mercy and good faith evil-doing is taken away: and by the fear of the Lord men are turned away from evil. ⁷ When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his haters be at peace with him. ⁸ Better is a little with righteousness, than great wealth with wrongdoing. ⁹ A man may make designs for his way, but the Lord is the guide of his steps. ¹⁰ Decision is in the lips of the king: his mouth will not go wrong in judging. ¹¹ True measures and scales are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are his work. ¹² Evil-doing is disgusting to kings: for the seat of the ruler is based on righteousness. ¹³ Lips of righteousness are the delight of kings; and he who says what is upright is dear to him. ¹⁴ The wrath of the king is like those who give news of death, but a wise man will put peace in place of it. ¹⁵ In the light of the king's face there is life; and his approval is like a cloud of spring rain. ¹⁶ How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! and to get knowledge is more to be desired than silver. ¹⁷ The highway of the upright is to be turned away from evil: he who takes care of his way will keep his soul. ¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a stiff spirit before a fall. ¹⁹ Better it is to have a gentle spirit with the poor, than to take part in the rewards of war with men of pride. ²⁰ He who gives attention to the law of right will get good; and whoever puts his faith in the Lord is happy. ²¹ The wise-hearted will be named men of good sense: and by pleasing words learning is increased. ²² Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it; but the punishment of the foolish is their foolish behaviour. ²³ The heart of the wise man is the teacher of his mouth, and gives increased learning to his lips. ²⁴ Pleasing words are like honey, sweet to the soul and new life to the bones. ²⁵ There is a way which seems straight before a man, but its end is the ways of death. ²⁶ The desire of the working man is working for him, for his need of food is driving him on. ²⁷ A good-for-nothing man is a designer of evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire. ²⁸ A man of twisted purposes is a cause of fighting everywhere: and he who says evil secretly makes trouble between friends. ²⁹ A violent man puts desire of evil into his neighbour's mind, and makes him go in a way which is not good. ³⁰ He whose eyes are shut is a man of twisted purposes, and he who keeps his lips shut tight makes evil come about. ³¹ The grey head is a crown of glory, if it is seen in the way of righteousness. ³² He who is slow to be angry is better than a man of war, and he who has control over his spirit than he who takes a town. ³³ A thing may be put to the decision of chance, but it comes about through the Lord.

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.

¹⁵ Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.

³¹ So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, It is the king of Israel. And turning about, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry, and the Lord came to his help, and God sent them away from him.

²⁷ Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing into the heart of the king, to make fair the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem;

¹¹ O Lord, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant, and of the prayers of your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Lord, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. Now I was the king's wine-servant.

¹⁷ Lord, you have given ear to the prayer of the poor: you will make strong their hearts, you will give them a hearing:

³⁶ Let my heart be turned to your unchanging word, and not to evil desire.

⁹ A man may make designs for his way, but the Lord is the guide of his steps.

²¹ A man's heart may be full of designs, but the purpose of the Lord is unchanging.

²⁴ A man's steps are of the Lord; how then may a man have knowledge of his way?

¹ The king's heart in the hands of the Lord is like the water streams, and by him it is turned in any direction at his pleasure.

⁷ But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say. ⁸ Have no fear because of them: for I am with you, to keep you safe, says the Lord. ⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand, touching my mouth; and the Lord said to me, See, I have put my words in your mouth:

²³ O Lord, I am conscious that a man's way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps.

³⁹ And I will give them one heart and one way, so that they may go on in the worship of me for ever, for their good and the good of their children after them: ⁴⁰ And I will make an eternal agreement with them, that I will never give them up, but ever do them good; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not go away from me.

²⁶ And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my orders and do them.

¹⁹ But when you are given up into their hands, do not be troubled about what to say or how to say it: for in that hour what you are to say will be given to you; ²⁰ Because it is not you who say the words, but the Spirit of your Father in you.

¹¹ And when they take you before the Synagogues and the authorities and the rulers, take no thought about what answers you will give, or what you will say: ¹² For the Holy Spirit will make clear to you in that very hour what to say.

¹⁴ So take care not to be troubled before the time comes, about what answers you will give: ¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom, so that not one of those who are against you will be able to get the better of you, or to put you in the wrong.

¹⁶ But praise be to God, who puts the same care for you into the heart of Titus.

¹³ For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.

¹⁶ Do not be turned from the right way, dear brothers. ¹⁷ Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning. ¹⁸ Of his purpose he gave us being, by his true word, so that we might be, in a sense, the first-fruits of all the things which he had made.

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, May the blessing of the Lord be with you: I have done what was ordered by the Lord. ¹⁴ And Samuel said, What then is this sound of the crying of sheep and the noise of oxen which comes to my ears?

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not take note of his face or how tall he is, because I will not have him: for the Lord's view is not man's; man takes note of the outer form, but the Lord sees the heart.

² For he takes comfort in the thought that his sin will not be uncovered and hated.

²¹ For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.

²⁵ There is a way which seems straight before a man, but its end is the ways of death.

² Every way of a man seems right to himself, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.

¹² If you say, See, we had no knowledge of this: does not the tester of hearts give thought to it? and he who keeps your soul, has he no knowledge of it? and will he not give to every man the reward of his work?

¹² There is a generation who seem to themselves to be free from sin, but are not washed from their unclean ways.

⁷ The way of the good man is straight; the road of the upright is made smooth by you.

²² For even if you are washed with soda and take much soap, still your evil-doing is marked before me, says the Lord God. ²³ How are you able to say, I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals? see your way in the valley, be clear about what you have done: you are a quick-footed camel twisting her way in and out;

¹⁰ I the Lord am the searcher of the heart, the tester of the thoughts, so that I may give to every man the reward of his ways, in keeping with the fruit of his doings.

²⁷ Tekel; you have been put in the scales and seen to be under weight.

¹⁵ And he said, You take care to seem right in the eyes of men, but God sees your hearts: and those things which are important in the opinion of men, are evil in the eyes of God.

⁹ And he made this story for some people who were certain that they were good, and had a low opinion of others: ¹⁰ Two men went up to the Temple for prayer; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-farmer. ¹¹ The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer.

⁷ What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's. ⁸ But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead. ⁹ And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death;

¹⁸ And to the angel of the church in Thyatira say: These things says the Son of God, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and his feet like polished brass:

²³ And I will put her children to death; and all the churches will see that I am he who makes search into the secret thoughts and hearts of men: and I will give to every one of you the reward of your works.

⁸ But as for me, I would make my prayer to God, and I would put my cause before him:

²⁸ Your purposes will come about, and light will be shining on your ways.

⁴ So will your delight be in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. ⁵ Put your life in the hands of the Lord; have faith in him and he will do it.

²² Put your cares on the Lord, and he will be your support; he will not let the upright man be moved.

⁶ In all your ways give ear to him, and he will make straight your footsteps.

⁵ Because Aram has made evil designs against you, saying, ⁶ Let us go up against Judah, troubling her, and forcing our way into her, and let us put up a king in her, even the son of Tabeel: ⁷ This is the word of the Lord God: This design will not come about or be effected.

²⁵ So I say to you, Take no thought for your life, about food or drink, or about clothing for your body. Is not life more than food, and the body more than its clothing? ²⁶ See the birds of heaven; they do not put seeds in the earth, they do not get in grain, or put it in store-houses; and your Father in heaven gives them food. Are you not of much more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by taking thought is able to make himself a cubit taller? ²⁸ And why are you troubled about clothing? See the flowers of the field, how they come up; they do no work, they make no thread: ²⁹ But I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God gives such clothing to the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is put into the oven, will he not much more give you clothing, O you of little faith? ³¹ Then do not be full of care, saying, What are we to have for food or drink? or, With what may we be clothed? ³² Because the Gentiles go in search of all these things: for your Father in heaven has knowledge that you have need of all these things: ³³ But let your first care be for his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these other things will be given to you in addition. ³⁴ Then have no care for tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Take the trouble of the day as it comes.

²² And he said to his disciples, For this reason I say to you, Take no thought for your life, about what food you will take, or for your body, how it may be clothed.

⁶ Have no cares; but in everything with prayer and praise put your requests before God.

⁷ Putting all your troubles on him, for he takes care of you.

³⁰ How the evil man goes free in the day of trouble, and has salvation in the day of wrath?

⁷ Every one who is named by my name, and whom I have made for my glory, who has been formed and designed by me.

²¹ Even the people whom I made to be the witnesses of my praise.

²² What if God, desiring to let his wrath and his power be seen, for a long time put up with the vessels of wrath which were ready for destruction:

³⁶ For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. So be it.

⁸ And, A stone of falling, a rock of trouble; the word is the cause of their fall, because they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.

³ And in their desire for profit they will come to you with words of deceit, like traders doing business in souls: whose punishment has been ready for a long time and their destruction is watching for them.

⁹ The Lord is able to keep the upright safe in the time of testing, and to keep evil-doers under punishment till the day of judging;

¹¹ It is right, our Lord and our God, for you to have glory and honour and power: because by you were all things made, and by your desire they came into being.

⁷ You are not to make use of the name of the Lord your God for an evil purpose; whoever takes the Lord's name on his lips for an evil purpose will be judged a sinner by the Lord

¹² Send destruction on all who are lifted up, pulling down the sinners from their places.

¹⁶ Six things are hated by the Lord; seven things are disgusting to him: ¹⁷ Eyes of pride, a false tongue, hands which take life without cause;

¹³ The fear of the Lord is seen in hating evil: pride, a high opinion of oneself, the evil way, and the false tongue, are unpleasing to me.

²¹ Certainly the evil-doer will not go free from punishment, but the seed of the upright man will be safe.

¹¹ Unhappy is the sinner! for the reward of his evil doings will come on him.

⁸ But to those who, from a love of competition, are not guided by what is true, will come the heat of his wrath, ⁹ Trouble and sorrow on all whose works are evil, to the Jew first and then to the Greek;

⁶ But he gives more grace. So that the Writings say, God is against the men of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low before him.

¹¹ And Abraham said, Because it seemed to me that there was no fear of God in this place, and that they might put me to death because of my wife.

⁹ And I said, What you are doing is not good: is it not the more necessary for you to go in the fear of our God, because of the shame which the nations may put on us?

¹⁵ But earlier rulers who were before me made the people responsible for their upkeep, and took from them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver; and even their servants were lords over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. He was without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil. ² And he had seven sons and three daughters. ³ And of cattle he had seven thousand sheep and goats, and three thousand camels, and a thousand oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great number of servants. And the man was greater than any of the sons of the east. ⁴ His sons regularly went to one another's houses, and every one on his day gave a feast: and at these times they sent for their three sisters to take part in their feasts with them. ⁵ And at the end of their days of feasting, Job sent and made them clean, getting up early in the morning and offering burned offerings for them all. For, Job said, It may be that my sons have done wrong and said evil of God in their hearts. And Job did this whenever the feasts came round. ⁶ And there was a day when the sons of the gods came together before the Lord, and the Satan came with them. ⁷ And the Lord said to the Satan, Where do you come from? And the Satan said in answer, From wandering this way and that on the earth, and walking about on it. ⁸ And the Lord said to the Satan, Have you taken note of my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a man without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil?

²⁸ And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.

¹⁰ Mercy and faith have come together; righteousness and peace have given one another a kiss.

¹⁶ The wise man, fearing, keeps himself from evil; but the foolish man goes on in his pride, with no thought of danger.

²⁷ The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, by which one may be turned from the nets of death.

²⁸ Mercy and good faith keep the king safe, and the seat of his power is based on upright acts.

²⁷ For this cause, O King, let my suggestion be pleasing to you, and let your sins be covered by righteousness and your evil-doing by mercy to the poor, so that the time of your well-being may be longer.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy. ¹⁹ He will again have pity on us; he will put our sins under his feet: and you will send all our sins down into the heart of the sea. ²⁰ You will make clear your good faith to Jacob and your mercy to Abraham, as you gave your oath to our fathers from times long past.

⁴¹ But if you give to the poor such things as you are able, then all things are clean to you.

² He takes away every branch in me which has no fruit, and every branch which has fruit he makes clean, so that it may have more fruit.

⁹ Making no division between them and us, but making clean their hearts by faith.

¹ Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

²¹ Letting yourselves be ruled by one another in the fear of Christ.

²² And as you have made your souls clean, being ruled by what is true, and loving one another without deceit, see that your love is warm and from the heart:

⁴¹ So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death.

⁶ When the servants came back they said, We have seen your brother Esau and he is coming out to you, and four hundred men with him. ⁷ Then Jacob was in great fear and trouble of mind: and he put all the people and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups;

²⁸ And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.

⁴ Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss: and the two of them were overcome with weeping.

¹⁰ And the fear of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of the lands round Judah, so that they made no wars against Jehoshaphat.

³¹ This will be more pleasing to the Lord than an ox, or a young ox of full growth.

¹¹ (UNTRANSLATED TEXT)

¹ But Saul, still burning with desire to put to death the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ² And made a request for letters from him to the Synagogues of Damascus, so that if there were any of the Way there, men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ And when he had taken food his strength came back. And for some days he kept with the disciples who were in Damascus. ²⁰ And straight away, in the Synagogues, he was preaching Jesus as the Son of God.

³¹ What may we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

¹⁸ I have all things and more than enough: I am made full, having had from Epaphroditus the things which came from you, a perfume of a sweet smell, an offering well pleasing to God.

¹⁰ Living uprightly in the approval of the Lord, giving fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

²⁰ Children, do the orders of your fathers and mothers in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

²¹ Make you full of every good work and ready to do all his desires, working in us whatever is pleasing in his eyes through Jesus Christ; and may the glory be given to him for ever and ever. So be it.

²² And he gives us all our requests, because we keep his laws and do the things which are pleasing in his eyes.

¹⁶ The little which the good man has is better than the wealth of evil-doers.

¹⁶ Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great wealth together with trouble.

⁶ He who gets stores of wealth by a false tongue, is going after what is only breath, and searching for death. ⁷ By their violent acts the evil-doers will be pulled away, because they have no desire to do what is right.

¹¹ Like the partridge, getting eggs together but not producing young, is a man who gets wealth but not by right; before half his days are ended, it will go from him, and at his end he will be foolish.

¹⁰ Am I to let the stores of the evil-doer go out of my memory, and the short measure, which is cursed?

⁶ But true faith, with peace of mind, is of great profit: ⁷ For we came into the world with nothing, and we are not able to take anything out; ⁸ But if we have food and a roof over us, let that be enough. ⁹ But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction.

²³ The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he takes delight in his way.

¹ The designs of the heart are man's, but the answer of the tongue comes from the Lord.

³⁰ Wisdom and knowledge and wise suggestions are of no use against the Lord.

¹⁰ Making clear from the first what is to come, and from past times the things which have not so far come about; saying, My purpose is fixed, and I will do all my pleasure;

⁵ Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.

¹⁵ And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret?

¹⁸ And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care: ¹⁹ And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws: ²⁰ So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.

³ The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel came to me: When an upright king is ruling over men, when he is ruling in the fear of God, ⁴ It is as the light of the morning, when the sun comes up, a morning without clouds; making young grass come to life from the earth.

²⁸ And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.

⁶ Your seat of power, O God, is for ever and ever; the rod of your kingdom is a rod of honour. ⁷ You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil: and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head, lifting you high over all other kings.

¹ Of Solomon. Give the king your authority, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. ² May he be a judge of your people in righteousness, and make true decisions for the poor. ³ May the mountains give peace to the people, and the hills righteousness. ⁴ May he be a judge of the poor among the people, may he give salvation to the children of those who are in need; by him let the violent be crushed.

⁴ The king's power is used for righteousness; you give true decisions, judging rightly in the land of Jacob.

¹² Evil-doing is disgusting to kings: for the seat of the ruler is based on righteousness. ¹³ Lips of righteousness are the delight of kings; and he who says what is upright is dear to him.

¹ See, a king will be ruling in righteousness, and chiefs will give right decisions. ² And a man will be as a safe place from the wind, and a cover from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a waste land.

⁵ See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will give to David a true Branch, and he will be ruling as king, acting wisely, doing what is right, and judging uprightly in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will have salvation and Israel will be living without fear: and this is the name by which he will be named, The Lord is our righteousness.

⁴ Their words are foolish; they make agreements with false oaths, so punishment will come up like a poison-plant in a ploughed field.

⁷ You who make the work of judging a bitter thing, crushing down righteousness to the earth;

¹² Is it possible for horses to go running on the rock? may the sea be ploughed with oxen? for the right to be turned by you into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into a bitter plant?

³⁵ Do not make false decisions in questions of yard-sticks and weights and measures. ³⁶ Have true scales, true weights and measures for all things: I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt;

¹³ Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small; ¹⁴ Or in your house different measures, a great and a small. ¹⁵ But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹ Scales of deceit are hated by the Lord, but a true weight is his delight.

¹⁰ Unequal weights and unequal measures, they are all disgusting to the Lord.

²³ Unequal weights are disgusting to the Lord, and false scales are not good.

¹⁰ Have true scales and a true ephah and a true bath.

⁷ As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways.

⁵ Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit;

¹¹ Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment?

¹⁶ For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God.

¹⁸ Every purpose is put into effect by wise help: and by wise guiding make war.

⁵ Take away evil-doers from before the king, and the seat of his power will be made strong in righteousness.

⁹ As for the man whose ear is turned away from hearing the law, even his prayer is disgusting.

¹⁴ The king who is a true judge in the cause of the poor, will be safe for ever on the seat of his power.

⁴⁸ But he who, without knowledge, did things for which punishment is given, will get only a small number of blows. The man to whom much is given, will have to give much; if much is given into his care, of him more will be requested.

¹¹ And the heaven was open; and I saw a white horse, and he who was seated on it was named Certain and True; and he is judging and making war in righteousness.

⁵ I will put to death anyone who says evil of his neighbour secretly; the man with a high look and a heart of pride is disgusting to me. ⁶ My eyes will be on those of good faith in the land, so that they may be living in my house; he who is walking in the right way will be my servant. ⁷ The worker of deceit will not come into my house; the false man will have no place before my eyes.

³⁵ The king has pleasure in a servant who does wisely, but his wrath is against him who is a cause of shame.

¹¹ He whose heart is clean is dear to the Lord; for the grace of his lips the king will be his friend.

³¹ Then he said, May God's punishment come on me if Elisha, the son of Shaphat, keeps his head on his body after this day. ³² But Elisha was in his house, and the responsible men were seated there with him; and before the king got there, Elisha said to those who were with him, Do you see how this cruel and violent man has sent to take away my life? ³³ While he was still talking to them, the king came down and said, This evil is from the Lord; why am I to go on waiting any longer for the Lord?

¹¹ An uncontrolled man is only looking for trouble, so a cruel servant will be sent against him.

¹² The king's wrath is like the loud cry of a lion, but his approval is like dew on the grass.

² The wrath of a king is like the loud cry of a lion: he who makes him angry does wrong against himself.

⁴ If the wrath of the ruler is against you, keep in your place; in him who keeps quiet even great sins may be overlooked.

¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar in his wrath and passion gave orders for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to be sent for. Then they made these men come in before the king. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar made answer and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you will not be servants of my god or give worship to the image of gold which I have put up? ¹⁵ Now if you are ready, on hearing the sound of the horn, pipe, harp, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all sorts of instruments, to go down on your faces in worship before the image which I have made, it is well: but if you will not give worship, that same hour you will be put into a burning and flaming fire; and what god is there who will be able to take you out of my hands? ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answering Nebuchadnezzar the king, said, There is no need for us to give you an answer to this question. ¹⁷ If our God, whose servants we are, is able to keep us safe from the burning and flaming fire, and from your hands, O King, he will keep us safe. ¹⁸ But if not, be certain, O King, that we will not be the servants of your gods, or give worship to the image of gold which you have put up. ¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of wrath, and the form of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: and he gave orders that the fire was to be heated up seven times more than it was generally heated. ²⁰ And he gave orders to certain strong men in his army to put cords on Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and put them into the burning and flaming fire. ²¹ Then these men had cords put round them as they were, in their coats, their trousers, their hats, and their clothing, and were dropped into the burning and flaming fire. ²² And because the king's order was not to be put on one side, and the heat of the fire was so great, the men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were burned to death by the flame of the fire. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, with the cords about them, went down into the burning and flaming fire. ²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar, full of fear and wonder, got up quickly, and said to his wise men, Did we not put three men in cords into the fire? and they made answer and said to the king, True, O King. ²⁵ He made answer and said, Look! I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not damaged; and the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods.

²⁷ And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison,

⁴ And I say to you, my friends, Have no fear of those who may put the body to death, and are able to do no more than that. ⁵ But I will make clear to you of whom you are to be in fear: of him who after death has power to send you to hell; yes, truly I say, Have fear of him.

²⁰ Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon: and they came to him, all together, and having made friends with Blastus, the controller of the king's house, they made a request for peace, because their country was dependent on the king's country for its food.

²⁰ So we are the representatives of Christ, as if God was making a request to you through us: we make our request to you, in the name of Christ, be at peace with God.

²³ They were waiting for me as for the rain, opening their mouths wide as for the spring rains. ²⁴ I was laughing at them when they had no hope, and the light of my face was never clouded by their fear.

⁶ There are numbers who say, Who will do us any good? the light of his face has gone from us.

⁶ For you have made him a blessing for ever: you have given him joy in the light of your face.

⁵ For his wrath is only for a minute; in his grace there is life; weeping may be for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

⁶ May he come down like rain on the cut grass; like showers watering the earth.

³ And let us have knowledge, let us go after the knowledge of the Lord; his going out is certain as the dawn, his decisions go out like the light; he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.

¹ Make your request to the Lord for rain in the time of the spring rains, even to the Lord who makes the thunder-flames; and he will give them showers of rain, to every man grass in the field.

²⁸ You have made me see the ways of life; I will be full of joy when I see your face.

¹³ Man has not seen the way to it, and it is not in the land of the living. ¹⁴ The deep waters say, It is not in me: and the sea says, It is not with me. ¹⁵ Gold may not be given for it, or a weight of silver in payment for it. ¹⁶ It may not be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the onyx of great price, or the sapphire. ¹⁷ Gold and glass are not equal to it in price, and it may not be exchanged for jewels of the best gold. ¹⁸ There is no need to say anything about coral or crystal; and the value of wisdom is greater than that of pearls. ¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia is not equal to it, and it may not be valued with the best gold. ²⁰ From where then does wisdom come, and where is the resting-place of knowledge? ²¹ For it is kept secret from the eyes of all living, unseen by the birds of the air. ²² Destruction and Death say, We have only had word of it with our ears. ²³ God has knowledge of the way to it, and of its resting-place; ²⁴ For his eyes go to the ends of the earth, and he sees everything under heaven. ²⁵ When he made a weight for the wind, measuring out the waters; ²⁶ When he made a law for the rain, and a way for the thunder-flames; ²⁷ Then he saw it, and put it on record; he gave it its fixed form, searching it out completely. ²⁸ And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.

¹²⁷ For this reason I have greater love far your teachings than for gold, even for shining gold.

¹⁵ She is of more value than jewels, and nothing for which you may have a desire is fair in comparison with her. ¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand, and in her left are wealth and honour. ¹⁷ Her ways are ways of delight, and all her goings are peace. ¹⁸ She is a tree of life to all who take her in their hands, and happy is everyone who keeps her.

⁷ The first sign of wisdom is to get wisdom; go, give all you have to get true knowledge.

¹⁰ Take my teaching, and not silver; get knowledge in place of the best gold. ¹¹ For wisdom is better than jewels, and all things which may be desired are nothing in comparison with her.

¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, even than the best gold; and my increase is more to be desired than silver.

¹² Wisdom keeps a man from danger even as money does; but the value of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.

²⁶ For what profit has a man, if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

²¹ So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God.

²⁴ Put away from you an evil tongue, and let false lips be far from you. ²⁵ Keep your eyes on what is in front of you, looking straight before you. ²⁶ Keep a watch on your behaviour; let all your ways be rightly ordered. ²⁷ Let there be no turning to the right or to the left, keep your feet from evil.

⁹ He whose ways are upright will go safely, but he whose ways are twisted will be made low.

¹⁶ He who keeps the law keeps his soul; but death will be the fate of him who takes no note of the word.

⁸ And a highway will be there; its name will be, The Holy Way; the unclean and the sinner may not go over it, and those who go on it will not be turned out of the way by the foolish.

¹³ But he who goes through to the end will get salvation.

³⁵ But in every nation, the man who has fear of him and does righteousness is pleasing to him.

¹⁶ And in this, I do my best at all times to have no reason for shame before God or men.

¹⁰ Not taking what is not theirs, but giving clear signs of their good faith, in all things doing credit to the teaching of God our Saviour. ¹¹ For the grace of God has come, giving salvation to all men, ¹² Training us so that, turning away from evil and the desires of this world, we may be living wisely and uprightly in the knowledge of God in this present life; ¹³ Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ Who gave himself for us, so that he might make us free from all wrongdoing, and make for himself a people clean in heart and on fire with good works.

³⁹ But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.

²¹ Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for life eternal through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to give you a place in his glory, free from all evil, with great joy,

¹⁰ Because you have kept my word in quiet strength, I will keep you from the hour of testing which is coming on all the world, to put to the test those who are on earth.

⁵ And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not go down before him and give him honour, Haman was full of wrath.

⁶ So Haman came in. And the king said to him, What is to be done to the man whom the king has delight in honouring? Then the thought came into Haman's mind, Whom, more than myself, would the king have pleasure in honouring?

¹⁰ So Haman was put to death by hanging him on the pillar he had made for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath became less.

² When pride comes, there comes shame, but wisdom is with the quiet in spirit.

¹⁹ The lover of fighting is a lover of sin: he who makes high his doorway is looking for destruction.

¹² Before destruction the heart of man is full of pride, and before honour goes a gentle spirit.

²³ A man's pride will be the cause of his fall, but he who has a gentle spirit will get honour.

¹¹ The high looks of man will be put to shame, and the pride of men will be made low, and only the Lord will be lifted up in that day. ¹² For the day of the Lord of armies is coming on all the pride of men, and on all who are high and lifted up;

¹⁰ This is what you are to say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Let not your God, in whom is your faith, give you a false hope, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. ¹¹ No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse: and will you be kept safe from their fate? ¹² Did the gods of the nations keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the town of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivva?

³⁸ And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword, and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon, his son, became king in his place.

³⁰ The king made answer and said, Is this not great Babylon, which I have made for the living-place of kings, by the strength of my power and for the glory of my honour? ³¹ While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice came down from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is said: The kingdom has gone from you: ³² And they will send you out from among men, to be with the beasts of the field; they will give you grass for your food like the oxen, and seven times will go by you, till you are certain that the Most High is ruler in the kingdom of men, and gives it to any man at his pleasure. ³³ That very hour the order about Nebuchadnezzar was put into effect: and he was sent out from among men, and had grass for his food like the oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair became long as eagles' feathers and his nails like those of birds. ³⁴ And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifting up my eyes to heaven, got back my reason, and, blessing the Most High, I gave praise and honour to him who is living for ever, whose rule is an eternal rule and whose kingdom goes on from generation to generation. ³⁵ And all the people of the earth are as nothing: he does his pleasure in the army of heaven and among the people of the earth: and no one is able to keep back his hand, or say to him, What are you doing? ³⁶ At the same time my reason came back to me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my honour and my great name came back to me; and my wise men and my lords were turned to me again; and I was made safe in my kingdom and had more power than before. ³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give worship and praise and honour to the King of heaven; for all his works are true and his ways are right: and those who go in pride he is able to make low.

²² And you, his son, O Belshazzar, have not kept your heart free from pride, though you had knowledge of all this;

²⁴ Then the part of the hand was sent out from before him, and this writing was recorded.

³ You have been tricked by the pride of your heart, O you whose living-place is in the cracks of the rock, whose house is high up; who has said in his heart, Who will make me come down to earth? ⁴ Though you go up on high like an eagle, though your house is placed among the stars, I will make you come down from there, says the Lord.

³³ But Peter made answer and said to him, Though all may be turned away from you, I will never be turned away. ³⁴ Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this night, before the hour of the cock's cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me. ³⁵ Peter says to him, Even if I am put to death with you, I will not be false to you. So said all the disciples.

⁷⁴ Then with curses and oaths he said, I have no knowledge of the man. And straight away there came the cry of a cock.

²⁰ Truly, because they had no faith they were broken off, and you have your place by reason of your faith. Do not be lifted up in pride, but have fear;

⁶ Not one newly taken into the church, for fear that, through his high opinion of himself, he may come into the same sin as the Evil One.

⁹ Egypt said, I will go after them, I will overtake, I will make division of their goods: my desire will have its way with them; my sword will be uncovered, my hand will send destruction on them.

¹⁸ The Lord is near the broken-hearted; he is the saviour of those whose spirits are crushed down.

⁶ Though the Lord is high, he sees those who are low; and he has knowledge from far off of those who are lifted up.

³ You have made them very glad, increasing their joy. They are glad before you as men are glad in the time of getting in the grain, or when they make division of the goods taken in war.

⁶ I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets.

¹³ For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them; ¹⁴ And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound. ¹⁵ Will the axe say high-sounding words against him who is using it, or the blade be full of pride against him who is cutting with it? As if a rod had the power of shaking him who is using it, or as if a stick might take up him who is not wood.

¹² For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.

¹⁵ For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed.

³ Happy are the poor in spirit: for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

⁵¹ With his arm he has done acts of power; he has put to flight those who have pride in their hearts. ⁵² He has put down kings from their seats, lifting up on high the men of low degree. ⁵³ Those who had no food he made full of good things; the men of wealth he sent away with nothing in their hands;

¹³ The tax-farmer, on the other hand, keeping far away, and not lifting up even his eyes to heaven, made signs of grief and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. ¹⁴ I say to you, This man went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other: for everyone who makes himself high will be made low and whoever makes himself low will be made high.

³⁸ Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? ³⁹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you: ⁴⁰ You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.

²⁰ And they were helped against them, so that the Hagarites, and those with them, were given into their power. For they sent up prayers to God in the fight, and he gave ear to them, because they put their faith in him.

¹² For fear that he may be angry, causing destruction to come on you, because he is quickly moved to wrath. Happy are all those who put their faith in him.

⁸ By experience you will see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who has faith in him.

¹ A Song of the going up. Those whose hope is in the Lord are like the mountain of Zion, which may not be moved, but keeps its place for ever.

⁵ Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

³⁵ For whoever gets me gets life, and grace from the Lord will come to him.

¹⁵ Wise behaviour gets approval, but the way of the false is their destruction.

² A servant who does wisely will have rule over a son causing shame, and will have his part in the heritage among brothers.

⁸ He who gets wisdom has love for his soul: he who keeps good sense will get what is truly good.

¹⁹ So that your faith may be in the Lord, I have made them clear to you this day, even to you. ²⁰ Have I not put in writing for you thirty sayings, with wise suggestions and knowledge,

³ The building of a house is by wisdom, and by reason it is made strong: ⁴ And by knowledge its rooms are full of all dear and pleasing things. ⁵ A wise man is strong; and a man of knowledge makes strength greater.

³ The man whose heart is unmoved you will keep in peace, because his hope is in you. ⁴ Let your hope be in the Lord for ever: for the Lord Jah is an unchanging Rock.

¹⁸ For this cause the Lord will be waiting, so that he may be kind to you; and he will be lifted up, so that he may have mercy on you; for the Lord is a God of righteousness: there is a blessing on all whose hope is in him.

⁷ A blessing is on the man who puts his faith in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. ⁸ For he will be like a tree planted by the waters, pushing out its roots by the stream; he will have no fear when the heat comes, but his leaf will be green; in a dry year he will have no care, and will go on giving fruit.

¹⁹ And the king had talk with them; and among them all there was no one like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they were given places before the king. ²⁰ And in any business needing wisdom and good sense, about which the king put questions to them, he saw that they were ten times better than all the wonder-workers and users of secret arts in all his kingdom. ²¹ And Daniel went on till the first year of King Cyrus.

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar made answer and said, Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel and kept his servants safe who had faith in him, and who put the king's word on one side and gave up their bodies to the fire, so that they might not be servants or worshippers of any other god but their God.

²³ Then the king was very glad, and gave orders for them to take Daniel up out of the hole. So Daniel was taken up out of the hole and he was seen to be untouched, because he had faith in his God.

¹⁶ See, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Be then as wise as snakes, and as gentle as doves.

¹² So that his glory might have praise through us who first had hope in Christ: ¹³ In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope,

¹² I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future.

² You are fairer than the children of men; grace is flowing through your lips; for this cause the blessing of God is with you for ever.

⁸ The wise-hearted man will let himself be ruled, but the man whose talk is foolish will have a fall.

⁷ The lips of the wise keep knowledge, but the heart of the foolish man is not right.

²³ The heart of the wise man is the teacher of his mouth, and gives increased learning to his lips. ²⁴ Pleasing words are like honey, sweet to the soul and new life to the bones.

¹⁵ My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;

⁹ Oil and perfume make glad the heart, and the wise suggestion of a friend is sweet to the soul.

¹⁰ The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.

⁴ The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are experienced, so that I may be able to give the word a special sense for the feeble: every morning my ear is open to his teaching, like those who are experienced:

²² And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth: and they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?

⁴⁶ The servants made answer, No man ever said things like this man.

¹⁹ For all have knowledge of how you do what you are ordered. For this reason I have joy in you, but it is my desire that you may be wise in what is good, and without knowledge of evil.

¹⁷ But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is.

¹¹ The mouth of the upright man is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the evil-doer is a bitter cup.

¹⁴ The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning men away from the nets of death.

² Knowledge is dropping from the tongue of the wise; but from the mouth of the foolish comes a stream of foolish words.

²⁸ The heart of the upright gives thought to his answer; but from the mouth of the evil-doer comes a stream of evil things.

⁴ The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters: the fountain of wisdom is like a flowing stream.

¹⁴ Let them be: they are blind guides. And if a blind man is guiding a blind man, the two will go falling into a hole together.

¹⁶ A curse is on you, blind guides, who say, Whoever takes an oath by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gold of the Temple, he is responsible. ¹⁷ You foolish ones and blind: which is greater, the gold, or the Temple which makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ And, Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the offering which is on it, he is responsible. ¹⁹ You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy? ²⁰ He, then, who takes an oath by the altar, takes it by the altar and by all things on it. ²¹ And he who takes an oath by the Temple, takes it by the Temple and by him whose house it is. ²² And he who takes an oath by heaven, takes it by the seat of God, and by him who is seated on it. ²³ A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make men give a tenth of all sorts of sweet-smelling plants, but you give no thought to the more important things of the law, righteousness, and mercy, and faith; but it is right for you to do these, and not to let the others be undone. ²⁴ You blind guides, who take out a fly from your drink, but make no trouble over a camel. ²⁵ A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of violent behaviour and uncontrolled desire. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may become equally clean.

³⁹ And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, Is it possible for one blind man to be guide to another? will they not go falling together into a hole? ⁴⁰ The disciple is not greater than his master, but everyone whose learning is complete will be like his master.

²⁴ Truly I say to you, The man whose ears are open to my word and who has faith in him who sent me, has eternal life; he will not be judged, but has come from death into life.

⁶³ The spirit is the life giver; the flesh is of no value: the words which I have said to you are spirit and they are life.

⁶⁸ Then Simon Peter gave this answer: Lord, to whom are we to go? you have the words of eternal life;

³⁰ The mouth of the good man says words of wisdom; the talk of his tongue is of righteousness. ³¹ The law of his God is in his heart; he will never make a false step.

¹ To the chief music-maker; put to Shoshannim. Of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves. My heart is flowing over with good things; my words are of that which I have made for a king; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

¹⁷ Let your ear be bent down for hearing my words, and let your heart give thought to knowledge. ¹⁸ For it is a delight to keep them in your heart, to have them ready on your lips.

³⁴ You offspring of snakes, how are you, being evil, able to say good things? because out of the heart's store come the words of the mouth. ³⁵ The good man out of his good store gives good things; and the evil man out of his evil store gives evil things.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ be in you in all wealth of wisdom; teaching and helping one another with songs of praise and holy words, making melody to God with grace in your hearts.

² My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants:

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even than much shining gold; sweeter than the dropping honey.

¹⁰³ How sweet are your sayings to my taste! truly, they are sweeter than honey in my mouth!

⁸ This will give strength to your flesh, and new life to your bones.

²² For they are life to him who gets them, and strength to all his flesh.

¹⁸ There are some whose uncontrolled talk is like the wounds of a sword, but the tongue of the wise makes one well again.

²³ A man has joy in the answer of his mouth: and a word at the right time, how good it is!

²⁶ Evil designs are disgusting to the Lord, but the words of the clean-hearted are pleasing.

¹⁶ And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.

¹³ My son, take honey, for it is good; and the flowing honey, which is sweet to your taste: ¹⁴ So let your desire be for wisdom: if you have it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹¹ A word at the right time is like apples of gold in a network of silver. ¹² Like a nose-ring of gold and an ornament of the best gold, is a wise man who says sharp words to an ear ready to give attention.

¹¹ Your lips are dropping honey; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the smell of your clothing is like the smell of Lebanon.

¹⁶ But to me your word is a joy, making my heart glad; for I am named by your name, O Lord God of armies.

¹⁹ At evening on that day, the first day of the week, when, for fear of the Jews, the doors were shut where the disciples were, Jesus came among them and said to them, May peace be with you! ²⁰ And when he had said this, he let them see his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ And Jesus said to them again, May peace be with you! As the Father sent me, even so I now send you.

¹⁵ The way of the foolish man seems right to him? but the wise man gives ear to suggestions.

²⁶ The upright man is a guide to his neighbour, but the way of evil-doers is a cause of error to them.

¹² There is a way which seems straight before a man, but its end is the ways of death.

¹⁵ Because you have said, We have made death our friend, and with the underworld we have made an agreement; when the overflowing waters come through they will not come near us; for we are looking to false words for help, taking cover in what is untrue: ¹⁶ For this cause says the Lord God, See, I am placing in Zion as a base, a stone, a tested stone, an angle-stone which is certain and of great value: and he who has faith will not give way. ¹⁷ And I will make right decision the measuring-line, and righteousness the weight: and the ice-storm will take away the safe place of false words, and the secret place will be covered by the flowing waters. ¹⁸ And the help you were looking for from death will come to nothing, and your agreement with the underworld will be broken; when the overflowing waters come through, then you will be overcome by them. ¹⁹ Whenever they come through they will overtake you; for they will come through morning after morning, by day and by night: and the news will be nothing but fear.

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees said to them, Have you, like the others, been given false ideas? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers belief in him, or any one of the Pharisees? ⁴⁹ But these people who have no knowledge of the law are cursed.

⁴⁰ These words came to the ears of the Pharisees who were with him and they said to him, Are we, then, blind?

⁹ For I, truly, was of the opinion that it was right for me to do a number of things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

⁵ Make a test of yourselves, if you are in the faith; make certain of yourselves. Or are you not conscious in yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, if you are truly Christ's?

¹² If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if your heart is full of pride, you only will have the pain of it.

²³ In all hard work there is profit, but talk only makes a man poor.

⁷ All the work of man is for his mouth, and still he has a desire for food.

¹¹ And that you may take pride in being quiet and doing your business, working with your hands as we gave you orders; ¹² That you may be respected by those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.

⁸ And we did not take food from any man for nothing, but were working hard night and day not to be a trouble to any of you: ⁹ Not because we have not the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, so that you might do the same. ¹⁰ For even when we were with you we gave you orders, saying, If any man does no work, let him not have food. ¹¹ For it has come to our ears that there are some among you whose behaviour is uncontrolled, who do no work at all, but are over-interested in the business of others. ¹² Now to such we give orders and make request in the Lord Jesus, that, working quietly, they get their living.

¹⁷ So now, give thought to what you are going to do; for evil is in store for our master and all his house: for he is such a good-for-nothing person that it is not possible to say anything to him.

¹ Now by chance there was present a good-for-nothing person named Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he, sounding the horn, said, We have no part in David, or any interest in the son of Jesse: let every man go to his tent, O Israel.

¹⁴ With your hand, O Lord, from men, even men of the world, whose heritage is in this life, and whom you make full with your secret wealth: they are full of children; after their death their offspring take the rest of their goods. ¹⁵ As for me, I will see your face in righteousness: when I am awake it will be joy enough for me to see your form.

² Purposing destruction, using deceit; your tongue is like a sharp blade. ³ You have more love for evil than for good, for deceit than for works of righteousness. Selah. ⁴ Destruction is in all your words, O false tongue.

⁴ My soul is among lions; I am stretched out among those who are on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and whose tongue is a sharp sword.

⁴ If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth;

¹² A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;

¹⁴ His mind is ever designing evil: he lets loose violent acts.

¹⁸ Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!

¹³ See, is it not the pleasure of the Lord of armies that the peoples are working for the fire and using themselves up for nothing?

⁶ And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.

¹ Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden? ² And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden: ³ But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you. ⁴ And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you: ⁵ For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil. ⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband. ⁷ And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together. ⁸ And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening wind: and the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God. ⁹ And the voice of the Lord God came to the man, saying, Where are you? ¹⁰ And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes. ¹¹ And he said, Who gave you the knowledge that you were without clothing? Have you taken of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take? ¹² And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it. ¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.

⁹ And David said to Saul, Why do you give any attention to those who say that it is my desire to do you wrong?

¹⁹ A false witness, breathing out untrue words, and one who lets loose violent acts among brothers.

¹⁸ An angry man makes men come to blows, but he who is slow to get angry puts an end to fighting.

⁹ He who keeps a sin covered is looking for love; but he who keeps on talking of a thing makes division between friends.

⁸ The words of one who says evil of his neighbour secretly are like sweet food, and go down into the inner parts of the stomach.

²⁰ Without wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no secret talk, argument is ended. ²¹ Like breath on coals and wood on fire, so a man given to argument gets a fight started. ²² The words of one who says evil of his neighbour secretly are like sweet food, they go down into the inner parts of the stomach.

²² An angry man is the cause of fighting, and a man given to wrath does much wrong.

³³ The shaking of milk makes butter, and the twisting of the nose makes blood come: so the forcing of wrath is a cause of fighting.

²⁹ Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others;

²⁰ For I have a fear that, when I come, you may not be answering to my desire, and that I may not be answering to yours; that there may be fighting, hate, angry feeling, divisions, evil talk about others, secrets, thoughts of pride, outbursts against authority;

³ If any man gives different teaching, not in agreement with the true words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the teaching which is in agreement with true religion, ⁴ He has an over-high opinion of himself; being without knowledge, having only an unhealthy love of questionings and wars of words, from which come envy, fighting, cruel words, evil thoughts, ⁵ Bitter talk of men who, being evil in mind and dead to what is true, take the faith to be a way of making profit.

¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true. ¹⁵ This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One. ¹⁶ For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing.

¹¹ Then in that night Saul sent men to David's house to keep watch on him so as to put him to death in the morning: and David's wife Michal said to him, If you do not go away to a safe place tonight you will be put to death in the morning.

¹⁷ And Saul said to Michal, why have you been false to me, letting my hater go and get safely away? And in answer Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go, or I will put you to death.

⁷ Then Saul said to his servants who were there about him, Give ear now, you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give to every one of you fields and vine-gardens, will he make you all captains of hundreds and captains of thousands; ⁸ That all of you have made designs against me, and not one of you gave me word when my son made an agreement with the son of Jesse, and not one of you has pity for me or has made my eyes open to the fact that my servant has been moved by my son against me, as at this day? ⁹ Then Doeg, the Edomite, who was by the side of the servants of Saul, in answer said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub.

¹⁹ Then the Ziphites came up to Gibeah to see Saul, and said, Is not David living secretly among us in the strong places in Horesh, in the hill of Hachilah to the south of the waste land? ²⁰ So now, O king, have your soul's desire and come down, and we, for our part, will give him up into the king's hands. ²¹ And Saul said, The Lord's blessing will be yours, for you have had pity on me.

¹³ For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners would take you out of the right way, do not go with them. ¹¹ If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause; ¹² Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death; ¹³ Goods of great price will be ours, our houses will be full of wealth; ¹⁴ Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:

¹² Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false; ¹³ Who give up the way of righteousness, to go by dark roads; ¹⁴ Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner; ¹⁵ Whose ways are not straight, and whose footsteps are turned to evil:

³¹ Have no envy of the violent man, or take any of his ways as an example.

¹⁷ For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.

¹² A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words; ¹³ Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers; ¹⁴ His mind is ever designing evil: he lets loose violent acts.

¹⁰ He who makes signs with his eyes is a cause of trouble, but he who makes a man see his errors is a cause of peace.

²⁷ A good-for-nothing man is a designer of evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire.

¹⁰ Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well.

³ Their hands are made ready to do evil; the ruler makes requests for money, and the judge is looking for a reward; and the great man gives decisions at his pleasure, and the right is twisted.

¹⁵ For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.

⁷ So he gave her his word with an oath to let her have whatever she might make request for. ⁸ And she, at her mother's suggestion, said, Give me here on a plate the head of John the Baptist.

²³ And he said, Why, what evil has he done? But they gave loud cries, saying, To the cross with him! ²⁴ So when Pilate saw that he was able to do nothing, but that trouble was working up, he took water and, washing his hands before the people, said, The blood of this upright man is not on my hands: you are responsible. ²⁵ And all the people made answer and said, Let his blood be on us, and on our children. ²⁶ Then he let Barabbas go free: but after having Jesus whipped, he gave him up to be put to death on the cross.

²⁰ The light is hated by everyone whose acts are evil and he does not come to the light for fear that his acts will be seen.

⁷ Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing. ⁸ And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you? ⁹ And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers. ¹⁰ And Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him.

³² Get up from your seats before the white-haired, and give honour to the old, and let the fear of your God be before you: I am the Lord.

² And now, see, the king is before you: and I am old and grey-headed, and my sons are with you: I have been living before your eyes from my early days till now. ³ Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you. ⁴ And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man. ⁵ Then he said, The Lord is witness against you, and the man on whom he has put the holy oil is witness this day that you have seen no wrong in me. And they said, He is witness.

¹⁰ So David gave praise to the Lord before all the people; and David said, Praise be to you, O Lord the God of Israel, our father for ever and ever. ¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the strength and the power and the glory, and the authority and the honour: for everything in heaven and on earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are lifted up as head over all. ¹² Wealth and honour come from you, and you are ruler over all, and in your hand is power and strength; it is in your power to make great, and to give strength to all. ¹³ So now, our God, we give you praise, honouring the glory of your name. ¹⁴ But who am I and what is my people, that we have power to give so freely in this way? for all things come from you, and what we have given you is yours. ¹⁵ For we, as all our fathers were, are like men from a strange country before you, who have got a place for a time in the land; our days on the earth are like a shade, and there is no hope of going on. ¹⁶ O Lord our God, all this store, which we have made ready for the building of a house for your holy name, comes from your hand and is yours. ¹⁷ And I am conscious, my God, that you are the searcher of hearts, taking pleasure in righteousness. As for me, with an upright heart I have freely given all these things; and I have seen with joy your people who are here to make their offerings freely to you. ¹⁸ O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the deepest thoughts of your people, and let their hearts be fixed and true to you; ¹⁹ And give to Solomon my son a true heart, to keep your orders, your rules, and your laws, and to do all these things, and to put up this great house for which I have made ready. ²⁰ And David said to all the people, Now give praise to the Lord your God. And all the people gave praise to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with bent heads worshipping the Lord and the king. ²¹ And they made offerings to the Lord, and gave burned offerings to the Lord, on the day after, a thousand oxen, a thousand sheep, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and a great wealth of offerings for all Israel. ²² And with great joy they made a feast before the Lord that day. And they made Solomon, the son of David, king a second time, putting the holy oil on him to make him holy to the Lord as ruler, and on Zadok as priest. ²³ So Solomon was put on the seat of the Lord as king in place of his father David, and everything went well for him; and all Israel was under his authority. ²⁴ And all the chiefs and the men of war and all the sons of King David put themselves under the authority of Solomon the king. ²⁵ And the Lord made Solomon great in the eyes of all Israel, clothing him with glory and honour such as no other king in Israel had had before him.

⁶ And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you. ⁷ I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom.

¹ My son, keep my teaching in your memory, and my rules in your heart: ² For they will give you increase of days, years of life, and peace.

⁶ Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their fathers.

²⁹ The glory of young men is their strength, and the honour of old men is their grey hairs.

¹³ A young man who is poor and wise is better than a king who is old and foolish and will not be guided by the wisdom of others.

⁶ They were upright in the eyes of God, keeping all the rules and orders of God, and doing no wrong.

²⁹ Now you are letting your servant go in peace, O Lord, as you have said; ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ Which you have made ready before the face of all nations; ³² A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. ³³ And his father and mother were full of wonder at the things which were said about him. ³⁴ And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said; ³⁵ And a sword will go through your heart; so that the secret thoughts of men may come to light. ³⁶ And there was one, Anna, a woman prophet, the daughter of Phanuel, of the family of Asher {\I she was very old, and after seven years of married life ³⁷ She had been a widow for eighty-four years}; she was in the Temple at all times, worshipping with prayers and going without food, night and day. ³⁸ And coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, talking of him to all those who were waiting for the freeing of Jerusalem.

⁹ Still, because of love, in place of an order, I make a request to you, I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner of Christ Jesus:

⁸ The Lord is kind and full of pity, not quickly made angry, but ever ready to have mercy.

²⁹ He who is slow to be angry has great good sense; but he whose spirit is over-quick gives support to what is foolish.

¹⁹ Better it is to have a gentle spirit with the poor, than to take part in the rewards of war with men of pride.

¹¹ A man's good sense makes him slow to wrath, and the overlooking of wrongdoing is his glory.

²⁸ He whose spirit is uncontrolled is like an unwalled town which has been broken into.

²¹ Do not let evil overcome you, but overcome evil by good.

¹ Let it then be your desire to be like God, as well-loved children;

¹⁹ You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;

²¹ To him who overcomes I will give a place with me on my high seat, even as I overcame, and am seated with my Father on his high seat.

⁵⁵ But let the distribution of the land be made by the decision of the Lord: by the names of the tribes of their fathers let their heritage be given them. ⁵⁶ As it is ordered by the decision of the Lord, let distribution be made between those who are more in number and those who are less. ⁵⁷ These were those of the Levites who were numbered by their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari, the family of the Merarites. ⁵⁸ These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram. ⁵⁹ Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom he had in Egypt: by Amram she had Moses and Aaron and their sister Miriam. ⁶⁰ Aaron's sons were Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁶¹ Death overtook Nadab and Abihu when they made an offering of strange fire before the Lord. ⁶² Of these, twenty-three thousand males, from one month old and over, were numbered: they were not numbered with the rest of the children of Israel, for they had no heritage among the children of Israel. ⁶³ All these were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest when the children of Israel were numbered in the lowlands of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. ⁶⁴ But among all these was not one of those numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when the children of Israel were numbered in the waste land of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the Lord had said of them, Death will certainly overtake them in the waste land. And of them all, only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun, were still living.

¹⁴ So in the morning you are to come near, tribe by tribe; and the tribe marked out by the Lord is to come near, family by family; and the family marked out by the Lord is to come near, house by house; and the house marked out by the Lord is to come near, man by man.

⁵ And let them make division of it into seven parts: let Judah keep inside his limit on the south, and let the children of Joseph keep inside their limit on the north.

¹⁰ And Joshua made the distribution for them in Shiloh by the decision of the Lord, marking out the land for the children of Israel by their divisions.

⁴¹ Then Saul said to the Lord, the God of Israel, Why have you not given me an answer today? If the sin is in me or in Jonathan my son, O Lord God of Israel, give Urim, and if it is in your people Israel, give Thummim. And by the decision of the Lord, Saul and Jonathan were marked out, and the people went free. ⁴² And Saul said, Give your decision between my son Jonathan and me. And Jonathan was taken.

¹ And the rulers of the people were living in Jerusalem: the rest of the people made selection, by the decision of chance, of one out of every ten to be living in Jerusalem, the holy town; the other nine to go to the other towns.

¹⁸ The decision of chance puts an end to argument, parting the strong.

²⁶ The approval of a ruler is desired by great numbers: but the decision in a man's cause comes from the Lord.

⁷ And they said to one another, Come, let us put this to the decision of chance and see on whose account this evil has come on us. So they did so, and Jonah was seen to be the man.

²⁶ And they put it to the decision of chance, and the decision was given for Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.