Read the Bible

The Fear of Yahweh

¹ When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Understand well ^(F1)what is before you,

² So you should put a knife to your throat
If you are a ^(C1)man of appetite.

³ Do not ^(C1)desire his delicacies,
For it is bread of falsehood.

^4 (C1)Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
^(C2)Because of your understanding, cease!

⁵ Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there!
Because ^(C1)it certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

^6 (C1)Do not eat the bread of ^(F1)a ^(C2)selfish man,
And do not desire his delicacies;

⁷ For as he ^(F1)calculates in his soul, so he is.
"Eat and drink!" he says to you,
But ^(C1)his heart is not with you.

⁸ You will ^(C1)vomit up ^(F1)the morsel you have eaten,
And you will corrupt your pleasant words.

^9 (C1)Do not speak in the ^(F1)hearing of a fool,
For he will ^(C2)despise the insight of your speech.

¹⁰ Do not move the ancient boundary
And do not ^(C1)come into the fields of the orphans,

¹¹ For their ^(C1)Redeemer is strong;
^(C2)He will plead their case against you.

¹² Bring your heart to discipline
And your ears to ^(F1)words of knowledge.

^13 (C1)Do not withhold discipline from the child,
Although you ^(F1)strike him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴ You shall ^(F1)strike him with the rod
And ^(C1)deliver his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is ^(C1)wise,
My own heart also will be glad;

¹⁶ And my ^(F1)inmost being will exult
When your lips speak ^(C1)upright things.

^17 (C1)Do not let your heart be jealous of sinners,
But be zealous in the ^(F1)(C2)fear of Yahweh ^(F2)always.

¹⁸ Surely there is a ^(F1)(C1)future,
And your ^(C2)hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹ You, my son, listen and ^(C1)be wise,
And ^(C2)direct your heart in the way.

²⁰ Do not be with ^(C1)heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with ^(C2)gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹ For the ^(C1)heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And ^(C2)drowsiness will clothe them with rags.

^22 (C1)Listen to your father who begot you,
And ^(C2)do not despise your mother when she is old.

^23 (C1)Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom and discipline and understanding.

²⁴ The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And ^(C1)he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.

²⁵ Let your ^(C1)father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

^26 (C1)Give your heart to me, my son,
And let your eyes ^(F1)(C2)delight in my ways.

²⁷ For a harlot is a ^(C1)deep pit
And ^(F1)a ^(C2)foreign woman is a narrow well.

²⁸ Surely she ^(C1)lies in wait as a robber,
And adds to the treacherous among men.

²⁹ Who has ^(C1)woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?

³⁰ Those who ^(C1)linger long over wine,
Those who go to search out ^(C2)mixed wine.

³¹ Do not look on the wine when it glistens red,
When it ^(F1)sparkles in the cup,
When it ^(C1)goes down smoothly;

³² At the end—like a serpent it ^(C1)bites,
And like a ^(C2)viper it stings.

³³ Your eyes will see strange things
And your heart will ^(C1)speak perverse things.

³⁴ And you will be like one who lies down in the heart of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a ^(F1)mast.

³⁵ "They ^(C1)struck me, but I did not become ^(F1)ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When shall I awake?
I will ^(C2)seek yet another."