2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Genesis 1:2.
2 Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Joshua 1:2.
21 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
22 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Proverbs 3:21–24.
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite;
3 don’t desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive.
4 Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it.
5 As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
6 Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread, and don’t desire his choice food,
7 for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit the little you’ve eaten and waste your pleasant words.
9 Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.
10 Don’t move an ancient boundary marker, and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Redeemer is strong, and He will take up their case against you.
12 Apply yourself to discipline and listen to words of knowledge.
13 Don’t withhold discipline from a youth; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 Strike him with a rod, and you will rescue his life from Sheol.
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will indeed rejoice.
16 My innermost being will cheer when your lips say what is right.
17 Don’t let your heart envy sinners; instead, always fear the LORD.
18 For then you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise; keep your mind on the right course.
20 Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine or with those who gorge themselves on meat.
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and grogginess will clothe them in rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy — and do not sell — truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
25 Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a stranger is a narrow well;
28 indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber and increases those among men who are unfaithful.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine, those who go looking for mixed wine.
31 Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, when it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.
34 You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.
35 “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I didn’t know it! When will I wake up? I’ll look for another drink.”
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Proverbs 23:1–35.
1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him.
2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
3 So He told them this parable:
4 “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?
5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,
6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’
7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or what woman who has 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
9 When she finds it, she calls her women friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’
10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Luke 15:1–10.
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Luke 15:11–19.
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 1 Corinthians 3:6–7.
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), James 4:14.