Day 656 of 730

¹Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me.

²My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me.

³When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

⁴In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They conspire and lurk, watching my steps, they are eager to take my life.

⁷Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God.

⁸You number my wanderings. You put my tears into your bottle. Aren't they in your book?

⁹Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me.

¹⁰In God, I will praise his word. In the Lord, I will praise his word.

¹¹I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

¹²Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to you.

¹³For you have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

²that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

⁴But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.

⁶She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.

⁷Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.

¹¹You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

¹²and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

¹³neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

¹⁴I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."

¹⁵Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving doe and a graceful deer- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. He examines all his paths.

²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

²³He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.