1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding
2 so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,
4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.
6 She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.
13 I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors.
14 I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”
Enjoy Marriage
15 Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.
16 Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 They should be for you alone and not for you to share with strangers.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn — let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever.
20 Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger?
21 For a man’s ways are before the LORD’s eyes, and He considers all his paths.
22 A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin.
23 He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Proverbs 5:1–23.
17 A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: But a faithful ambassador is health.
18 Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: But he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.
19 The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: But it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.
20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: But a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
21 Evil pursueth sinners: But to the righteous good shall be repayed.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Proverbs 13:17–21.
22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Lamentations 3:22–26.
21 From then on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to You!”
23 But He turned and told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.”
Take Up Your Cross
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.
26 What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will reward each according to what he has done.
28 I assure you: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Matthew 16:21–28.
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Mattthew 21:21–22.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Mark 15:34.
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), John 8:12.