Day 502 of 730

¹Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

²We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

³Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

⁴Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

⁵But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

⁶who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:"

⁷to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

⁸but to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,

⁹oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

¹⁰But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

¹¹For there is no partiality with God.

¹²For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified

¹⁴(for when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,

¹⁵in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)

¹⁶in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Christ Jesus.

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God,

¹⁸and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,

¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.

²¹You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who proclaim that a man should not steal, do you steal?

²²You who say a man should not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

²³You who glory in the law, through your disobedience of the law do you dishonor God?

²⁴For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," just as it is written.

²⁵For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

²⁶If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won't his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?

²⁷Won't the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

¹Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God's loving kindness endures continually.

²Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah.

⁴You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.

⁵God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.

⁶The righteous also will see it, and fear, and laugh at him, saying,

⁷"Behold, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."

⁸But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God's house. I trust in God's loving kindness forever and ever.

⁹I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it. I will hope in your name, for it is good, in the presence of your holy ones.

¹My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

²You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

³Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

⁷which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;

¹⁴in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

¹⁶There are six things which the Lord hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father's commandment, and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the Law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

²⁶For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

³⁰Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

³¹but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

³²He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

³³He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.