Proverbs 6–7; 2 Corinthians 2

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Proverbs 6–7

Practical Warnings

My son, if you have put up esecurity for your neighbor,

have egiven your pledge for a stranger,

if you are fsnared in the words of your mouth,

caught in the words of your mouth,

then do this, my son, and save yourself,

for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:

go, hasten,1 and gplead urgently with your neighbor.

hGive your eyes no sleep

and your eyelids no slumber;

save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,2

ilike a bird from the hand of the fowler.

jGo to kthe ant, O lsluggard;

consider her ways, and mbe wise.

nWithout having any chief,

oofficer, or ruler,

she prepares her bread pin summer

and qgathers her food in harvest.

rHow long will you lie there, lO sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

10  sA little sleep, a little slumber,

ta little sfolding of the hands to rest,

11  uand poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

12  vA worthless person, a wicked man,

goes about with wcrooked speech,

13  xwinks with his eyes, signals3 with his feet,

points with his finger,

14  with yperverted heart zdevises evil,

continually asowing discord;

15  therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;

bin a moment he will be broken cbeyond healing.

16  There are dsix things that the Lord hates,

dseven that are an abomination to him:

17  ehaughty eyes, fa lying tongue,

and ghands that shed innocent blood,

18  ha heart that devises wicked plans,

ifeet that make haste to run to evil,

19  ja false witness who kbreathes out lies,

and one who asows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

20  lMy son, keep your father’s commandment,

land forsake not your mother’s teaching.

21  mBind them on your heart always;

ntie them around your neck.

22  oWhen you walk, they4 will lead you;

owhen you lie down, they will pwatch over you;

and when you awake, they will talk with you.

23  For the commandment is qa lamp and the teaching a light,

and the rreproofs of discipline are the way of life,

24  to preserve you from the evil woman,5

from the smooth tongue of sthe adulteress.6

25  tDo not desire her beauty in your heart,

and do not let her capture you with her ueyelashes;

26  for vthe price of a prostitute is only wa loaf of bread,7

but a married woman8 xhunts down a precious life.

27  Can a man carry yfire next to his zchest

and his clothes not be burned?

28  Or can one awalk on hot coals

and his feet not be scorched?

29  So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;

none who touches her bwill go unpunished.

30  People do not despise a thief if he steals

to csatisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

31  but dif he is caught, he will pay esevenfold;

he will give all the goods of his house.

32  He who commits adultery lacks sense;

he who does it destroys himself.

33  He will get wounds and dishonor,

and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

34  For fjealousy makes a man furious,

and he will not spare when ghe takes revenge.

35  He will accept no compensation;

he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Warning Against the Adulteress

hMy son, keep my words

and htreasure up my commandments with you;

ikeep my commandments and live;

keep my teaching as jthe apple of your eye;

kbind them on your fingers;

kwrite them on the tablet of your heart.

Say to wisdom, You are my sister,

and call insight your intimate friend,

to keep you from lthe forbidden9 woman,

from lthe adulteress10 with her smooth words.

For at mthe window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice,

and I have seen among nthe simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man olacking sense,

passing along the street pnear her corner,

taking the road to her house

in qthe twilight, in the evening,

at rthe time of night and darkness.

10  And behold, the woman meets him,

sdressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.11

11  She is tloud and uwayward;

vher feet do not stay at home;

12  now in the street, now in the market,

and wat every corner she xlies in wait.

13  She seizes him and kisses him,

and with ybold face she says to him,

14  I had to zoffer sacrifices,12

and today I have apaid 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 bcoverings,

colored linens from cEgyptian linen;

17  I have perfumed my bed with dmyrrh,

aloes, and ecinnamon.

18  Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

let us delight ourselves with love.

19  For fmy 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 gher 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 fast13

23  till an arrow pierces its liver;

as ha bird rushes into a snare;

he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24  And inow, 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 ja mighty throng.

27  Her house is kthe way to Sheol,

going down to the chambers of death.


2 Corinthians 2

For I made up my mind unot to make another painful visit to you. For vif I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, wfor I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For xI wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Forgive the Sinner

Now yif anyone has caused pain, zhe has caused it not to me, but ain some measurenot to put it too severelyto all of you. For such a one, bthis punishment by the majority is enough, so cyou should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might dtest you and know ewhether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for fwe are not ignorant of his designs.

Triumph in Christ

12 When gI came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though ha door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit iwas not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But jthanks be to God, who in Christ always kleads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads lthe fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among mthose who are being saved and among nthose who are perishing, 16 oto one a fragrance from death to death, oto the other a fragrance from life to life. pWho is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.