The Path

Proverbs 26

World English Bible · Public Domain

¹ Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

² Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest.

³ A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!

⁴ Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.

⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

⁶ One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence.

⁷ Like the legs of the lame that hang loose, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

⁸ As one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool.

⁹ Like a thorn bush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

¹⁰ As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by.

¹¹ As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.

¹² Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³ The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!”

¹⁴ As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.

¹⁵ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

¹⁶ The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer with discretion.

¹⁷ Like one who grabs a dog’s ears is one who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸ Like a madman who shoots torches, arrows, and death,

¹⁹ is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not joking?”

²⁰ For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.

²¹ As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindling strife.

²² The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts.

²³ Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.

²⁴ A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.

²⁵ When his speech is charming, don’t believe him; for there are seven abominations in his heart.

²⁶ His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷ Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.

James 5

World English Bible · Public Domain

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

² Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

³ Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.

⁵ You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

⁷ Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

⁸ You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

⁹ Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

¹⁰ Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹ Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

¹² But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear— not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.

¹³ Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

¹⁴ Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

¹⁵ and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶ Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.

¹⁸ He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹ Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,

²⁰ let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.