10 To avoid the enticings of sin 1 The use of the proverbs. 7 An exhortation to fear God, and believe his word. ners. HE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 10 ¶ My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those go down into the pit: that 1060 PROVERBS I-OF EVIL COUNSEL 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. 19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. 20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24¶ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Chapter 2 1 Wisdom promiseth godliness to her children, 10 and safety from evil company, 20 and direction in good ways. Y son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee: 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; "The Heavens Declare the Glory" BY ALBERT RIEGER, A CONTEMPORARY AUSTRIAN LANDSCAPE ARTIST. + "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work."-Psalm 19, 1. E QUALLY celebrated is the nineteenth psalm, a pure pæan of joy in God's beautiful works, and in His justice. It opens with the world known verse quoted above, and looks with widest metaphorical thought to the solemn teaching which the beauty of nature offers to us every hour. "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night. sheweth knowledge. "There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard." Then the psalmist turns to marvel at the wisdom of creation and its Creator: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." “More to be desired are they than go.d, yea, than rauch fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." |