A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season, and (A)a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to (B)die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to (C)weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to (D)dance;
a time to (E)cast away stones, and a time to (F)gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to (G)refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to (H)lose;
a time to keep, and a time to (I)cast away;
a time to (J)tear, and a time to sew;
a time to (K)keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to (L)hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

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10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding
    than a hundred blows into a fool.

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Warning Against the Adulteress

(A)My son, keep my words
    and (B)treasure up my commandments with you;
(C)keep my commandments and live;
    keep my teaching as (D)the apple of your eye;
(E)bind them on your fingers;
    (F)write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call insight your intimate friend,
to keep you from (G)the forbidden[a] woman,
    from (H)the adulteress[b] with her smooth words.

For at (I)the window of my house
    I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among (J)the simple,
    I have perceived among the youths,
    a young man (K)lacking sense,
passing along the street (L)near her corner,
    taking the road to her house
in (M)the twilight, in the evening,
    at (N)the time of night and darkness.

10 And behold, the woman meets him,
    (O)dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.[c]
11 She is (P)loud and (Q)wayward;
    (R)her feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the market,
    and (S)at every corner she (T)lies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with (U)bold face she says to him,
14 “I had to (V)offer sacrifices,[d]
    and today I have (W)paid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
    to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
16 I have spread my couch with (X)coverings,
    colored linens from (Y)Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with (Z)myrrh,
    aloes, and (AA)cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For (AB)my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey;
20 he took a bag of money with him;
    at full moon he will come home.”

21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with (AC)her smooth talk she compels him.
22 All at once he follows her,
    as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast[e]
23     till an arrow pierces its liver;
as (AD)a bird rushes into a snare;
    he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24 And (AE)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
    do not stray into her paths,
26 for many a victim has she laid low,
    and all her slain are (AF)a mighty throng.
27 Her house is (AG)the way to Sheol,
    going down to the chambers of death.

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 7:5 Hebrew strange
  2. Proverbs 7:5 Hebrew the foreign woman
  3. Proverbs 7:10 Hebrew guarded in heart
  4. Proverbs 7:14 Hebrew peace offerings
  5. Proverbs 7:22 Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac); Hebrew as a chain to discipline a fool

13 On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found,
    but (A)a rod is for the back of him who (B)lacks sense.

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13 Whoever (A)despises (B)the word[a] brings destruction on himself,
    but he who reveres the commandment[b] will be (C)rewarded.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 13:13 Or a word
  2. Proverbs 13:13 Or a commandment

15 (A)Good sense wins (B)favor,
    but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 13:15 Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); Hebrew is rugged, or is an enduring rut

30 (A)I passed by the field of a sluggard,
    by the vineyard of a man (B)lacking sense,
31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
    the ground was covered with nettles,
    and its stone (C)wall was broken down.
32 Then I saw and (D)considered it;
    I looked and received instruction.
33 (E)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

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And now, O Lord my God, (A)you have made your servant king in place of David my father, (B)although I am but a little child. I do not know (C)how to go out or come in. (D)And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, (E)too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. (F)Give your servant therefore an understanding mind (G)to govern your people, that I may (H)discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 behold, (I)I now do according to your word. Behold, (J)I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. 13 (K)I give you also what you have not asked, (L)both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. 14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, (M)as your father David walked, then (N)I will lengthen your days.”

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Desire[a] without knowledge is not good,
    and whoever (A)makes haste with his feet misses his way.
When a man's folly (B)brings his way to ruin,
    his heart (C)rages against the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:2 Or A soul

The Lord's Prayer

11 Now Jesus[a] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, (A)as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, (B)“When you pray, say:

(C)“Father, (D)hallowed be (E)your name.
(F)Your kingdom come.
(G)Give us (H)each day our daily bread,[b]
and (I)forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And (J)lead us not into temptation.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything (K)because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence[c] he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, (L)ask, and (M)it will be given to you; (N)seek, and you will find; (O)knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for[d] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, (P)who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father (Q)give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 11:1 Greek he
  2. Luke 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow
  3. Luke 11:8 Or persistence
  4. Luke 11:11 Some manuscripts insert bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another (A)Helper,[a] to be with you forever, 17 even (B)the Spirit of truth, (C)whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and (D)will be[b] in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; (E)I will come to you.

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Footnotes

  1. John 14:16 Or Advocate, or Counselor; also 14:26; 15:26; 16:7
  2. John 14:17 Some manuscripts and is

(A)Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and (B)do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways (C)acknowledge him,
    and he (D)will make straight your paths.

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23 Jesus answered him, (A)“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and (B)we will come to him and (C)make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And (D)the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the (E)Helper, the Holy Spirit, (F)whom the Father will send in my name, (G)he will teach you all things and (H)bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 (I)Peace I leave with you; (J)my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. (K)Let not your hearts be troubled, neither (L)let them be afraid.

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11 Beloved, I urge you (A)as sojourners and exiles (B)to abstain from the passions of the flesh, (C)which wage war against your soul. 12 (D)Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, (E)they may see your good deeds and glorify God on (F)the day of visitation.

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13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,
    and (A)the end of joy may be (B)grief.

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