Growing in Wisdom - Proverbs 8

1,2,3 Can’t you hear the voice of wisdom? She is standing at the city gates and at every fork in the road and at the door of every house. Listen to what she says:

4,5 “Listen, men!” she calls. “How foolish and naïve you are! Let me give you understanding. O foolish ones, let me show you common sense!

6,7 Listen to me! For I have important information for you. Everything I say is right and true, for I hate lies and every kind of deception.

8 My advice is wholesome and good. There is nothing of evil in it.

9 My words are plain and clear to anyone with half a mind – if it is only open!

10 My instruction is far more valuable than silver or gold.”

11 For the value of wisdom is far above rubies; nothing can be compared with it.

12 Wisdom and good judgment live together, for wisdom knows where to discover knowledge and understanding.

13 If anyone respects and fears God, he will hate evil. For wisdom hates pride, arrogance, corruption and deceit of every kind.

14,15 “I, Wisdom, give good advice and common sense. Because of my strength, kings reign in power. I show judges who is right and who is wrong.

16 Rulers rule well with my help.

17 I love all who love me. Those who search for me shall surely find me.

18 Unending riches, honor, justice and righteousness are mine to distribute.

19 My gifts are better than the purest gold or sterling silver!

20 My paths are those of justice and right.

21 Those who love and follow me are indeed wealthy. I fill their treasuries.

22 The Lord formed me in the beginning, before he created anything else.

23 From ages past, I am. I existed before the earth began.

24 I lived before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters onto the earth;

25 before the mountains and the hills were made.

26 Yes, I was born before God made the earth and fields and high plateaus.

27,28,29 I was there when He established the heavens and formed the great springs in the depths of the oceans. I was there when he set the limits of the seas and gave them His instructions not to spread beyond their boundaries. I was there when He made the blueprint for the earth and oceans.

30 I was always at his side like a little child. I was his constant delight, laughing and playing in his presence.

31 And how happy I was with what He created – His wide world and all his family of mankind!

32 And so, young me, listen to me, for happy are all who follow my instructions.

33 “Listen to my counsel – oh, don’t refuse it – and be wise.

34 Happy is the man who is so anxious to be with me that he watches for me daily at my gates, or waits for me outside my home!

35 For whoever finds me finds life and wins approval from The Lord.

36 But the one who misses me has injured himself irreparably. Those who refuse me show that they love death.” 

Text: Children's Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishing 1972

Photo Credits: Google Images

Growing in Wisdom - Proverbs 7

1 Follow my advice, my son; always keep it in mind and stick to it.

2 Obey me and live! Guard my words as your most precious possession.

3 Write them down and also keep them deep within your heart.

4 Love wisdom like a sweetheart; make her a beloved member of your family.

5 Let her hold you back from visiting a prostitute, from listening to her flattery.

6 I was looking out the window of my house one day,

7 and saw a simple minded lad, a young man lacking common sense.

8,9 walking at twilight down the street to the house of this wayward girl, a prostitute.

10 She approached him, saucy and pert and dressed seductively.

11,12 She was  the brash, coarse type, seen often in the streets and markets, soliciting at every corner for men to be her lovers.

13 She put her arms around him and kissed him and with a saucy look she said,

14 “I’ve decided to forget our quarrel!

15 I was just coming to look for you and here you are!

16,17 My bed is spread with lovely, colored sheets of finest linen imported from Egypt, perfumed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

18 Come on, let’s take our fill of love until morning,

19 for my husband is away on a long trip.

20 He has taken a wallet full of money with him and won’t return for several days.”

21 So, she seduced him with her pretty speech, her coaxing and her wheedling, until he yielded to her. He couldn’t resist her flattery.

22 He followed her as an ox going to the butcher, or as a stag that is trapped,

23 waiting to be killed with an arrow through his heart. He was as a bird flying into a snare, not knowing the fate awaiting it there.

24 Listen to me, young men, and not only listen but obey.

25 don’t let your desires get out of hand; don’t let yourself think about her. Don’t go near her; stay away from where she walks, lest she tempt you and seduce you.

26 For she has been the ruin of multitudes – a vast host of men have been her victims.

27 If you want to find the road to hell, look for her house.

Text: Children's Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishers 1972

Photo Credits: A Joyful 'toon, Mike Waters www.joyfultoons.com and Google Images

Growing in Wisdom - Proverbs 6

1 Son, if you endorse a note for someone you hardly know, guaranteeing his debt, you are in serious trouble.

2 You may have trapped yourself by the agreement.

3 Quick! Get out of it if you possibly can! Swallow your pride, don’t let embarrassment stand in the way. Go and beg to have your name erased.

4 Don’t put it off. Do it now. Don’t rest until you do.

5 If you can get out of this trap you have saved yourself like a deer that escapes from a hunter, or a bird from a net.

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be wise!

7 For though they have no king to make them work,

8 yet they labor hard all summer gathering up food for the winter.

9 But you-all you do is sleep. When will you wake up?

10 “Let me sleep a little longer!” Sure, just a little more!

11 And as you sleep, poverty creeps upon you like a robber and destroys you; want attacks you in full armor.

12,13 Let me describe for you a worthless and wicked man; first, he is a constant liar; he signals his true intentions to his friends with eyes and feet and fingers.

14 Next, his heart is full of rebellion. And he spends his time thinking of all the evil he can do, and stirring up discontent.

15 But he will be destroyed suddenly, broken beyond hope of healing.

16-19 For there are six things The LORD hates – no seven:

            Haughtiness

            Lying

            Murdering

            Plotting evil

            Eagerness to do wrong

            A false witness

     Sowing discord among brothers.

20 Young man, obey your father and your mother.

21 Tie their instructions around your finger so you won’t forget. Take to heart all their advice.

22 Every day and all night long their counsel will lead you and save you from harm; when you wake up in the morning, let their instructions guide you into the new day.

23 For their advice is a beam of light directed into the dark corners of your mind to warn you of danger and to give you a good life.

24 Their counsel will keep you far away from prostitutes with all their flatteries.

25 Don’t lust for their beauty. Don’t let their coyness seduce you.

26 For a prostitute will bring a man to poverty and an adulteress may cost him his very life.

27 Can a man hold fire against his chest and not be burned?

28 Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?

29 So it is with the man who commits adultery with another’s wife. He shall not go unpunished for this sin.

30 Excuses might even be found for a thief, if he steals when he is starving!

31 But even so, he is fined seven times as much as he stole, though it may mean selling everything in his house to pay it back.

32 But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul.

33 Wounds and constant disgrace are his lot,

34 for the woman’s husband will be furious in his jealousy and he will have no mercy on you in his day of vengeance.

35 You won’t be able to buy him off no matter what you offer.

Text: Children's Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishers 1972

Photo Credits: Google Images

Growing in Wisdom - Proverbs 5

Listen to me, my son! I know what I am saying: LISTEN!

2 Watch yourself, lest you be indiscreet and betray some vital information.

3 For the lips of a prostitute are as sweet as honey, and smooth flattery is her stock in trade.

4 But afterwards only a bitter conscience is left to you, sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 She leads you down to death and hell.

6 For she does not know the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t even realize where it leads.

7 Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I am about to say:

8 Run from her! Don’t go near her house,

9 lest you fall to her temptation and lose your honor, and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless

10 lest strangers obtain your wealth and you become a slave to foreigners.

11 Lest afterwards you groan in anguish and in sham, when syphilis consumes your body,

12 and you say, “Oh, if only I had listened! If only I had not demanded my own way!

13 Oh, why wouldn’t I take advice? Why was I so stupid?

14 For now I must face public disgrace.”

15 Drink from your own well, my son – be faithful and true to your wife.

16 Why should you beget children with women of the street?

17 Why share your children with those outside your home?

18 Let your manhood be a blessing; rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 Let her charms and tender embrace satisfy you. Let her love alone fill you with delight.

20 Why delight yourself with prostitutes, embracing what is not yours??

21 For God is closely watching you and He weighs carefully everything you do.

22 The wicked man is doomed by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.

23 He shall die because he will not listen to the truth; he has let himself be led away into incredible folly.

Text: Children's Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishing, 1972 

Photo Credits: Google Images

Growing in Wisdom - Proverbs 4

Young men, listen to me as you would to your father. Listen and grow wise, for I speak the truth – don’t turn away.

3 For I, too, was once a son, tenderly loved as an only child, and as a companion to my father.

4 He told me never to forget his words. “If you follow them,” he said, “you will have a long and happy life.

5 Learn to be wise,” he said, “and develop good judgment and common sense! I cannot overemphasize this point.”

6 Cling to wisdom – she will protect you. Love her – she will guard you.

7 Determination to be wise is the first step toward becoming wise! And with your wisdom, develop common sense and good judgment.

8,9 If you exalt wisdom, she will exalt you. Hold her fast and she will lead you to great honor; she will place a beautiful crown upon your head.

10 My son, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.

11 I would have you learn this great fact: that a life of doing right is the wisest life there is.

12 If you live that kind of life, you’ll not limp or stumble as you run.

13 Carry out my instructions; don’t forget them, for they will lead you to real living.

14 Don’t do as the wicked do.

15 Avoid their haunts – turn away, go somewhere else,

16 for evil men don’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest unless they cause someone to stumble and fall.

17 They eat and drink wickedness and violence!

18 But the good man walks along in the ever brightening light of God’s Favor; the dawn gives way to morning splendor,

19 while the evil man gropes and stumbles in the dark.

20 Listen, son of mine, to what I say. Listen carefully.

21 Keep these thoughts ever in mind; let them penetrate deep within your heart,

22 for they will mean real life for you and radiant health.

23 Above all else, guard your affections. For they influence everything else in your life.

24 Spurn the careless kiss of a prostitute. Stay far from her.

25 Look straight ahead; don’t even turn your head to look.

26 Watch your step. Stick to the path and be safe.

27 Don’t sidetrack; pull back your foot from danger.

Text: Children’s Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishers 1972

Photo Credits: Mike Waters, A Joyful ‘toon, www.joyfultoons.com and Google Images