Day 533 of 730

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;

⁴who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

⁵For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.

⁶But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

⁷Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so also are you of the comfort.

⁸For we do not desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.

⁹Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

¹⁰who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;

¹¹you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed on us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.

¹²For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.

¹³For we write no other things to you, than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end;

¹⁴as also you acknowledged us in part, that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit;

¹⁶and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea.

¹⁷When I therefore was thus determined, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the "Yes, yes" and the "No, no?"

¹⁸But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not "Yes and no."

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not "Yes and no," but in him is "Yes."

²⁰For however many are the promises of God, in him they are "Yes." Therefore also through him they are "Amen," to the glory of God through us.

²¹Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;

²²who also sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.

²³But I call God for a witness to my soul, that I did not come to Corinth to spare you.

²⁴Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.

¹God, do not keep silent. Do not keep silent, and do not be still, God.

²For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.

³They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.

⁴"Come," they say, "and let's destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more."

⁵For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you.

⁶The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;

⁷Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

⁸Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah.

⁹Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;

¹⁰who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb; yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;

¹²who said, "Let us take possession of God's pasturelands."

¹³My God, make them like tumbleweed; like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,

¹⁵so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with confusion, that they may seek your name, Lord.

¹⁷Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be confounded and perish;

¹⁸that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

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.