Saturday, April 29, 2023

Proverbs 9

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. ²She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. ³She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. ⁴"Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment. ⁵"Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. ⁶Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.

⁷"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. ⁸Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. ⁹Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.

¹⁰"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. ¹¹For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. ¹²If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer."

¹³The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. ¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, ¹⁵calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. ¹⁶"Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment. ¹⁷"Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!" ¹⁸But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

 

 

Psalm 108

¹A song. A psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. ²Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. ³I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. ⁴For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. ⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth. ⁶Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. ⁷God has spoken from his sanctuary: "In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth. ⁸Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter. ⁹Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph." ¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? ¹¹Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies? ¹²Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. ¹³With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

 

 

Hebrews 11:13–28

¹³All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ¹⁴People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

²³By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. ²⁵He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. ²⁶He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.