Proverbs 19

etter a poor person who lives with integrity
than someone who has deceitful lips and is a fool.
2 Even zeal is not good without knowledge,
and the one who acts hastily sins.
3 A person’s own foolishness leads him astray,
yet his heart rages against the Lord.
4 Wealth attracts many friends,
but a poor person is separated from his friend.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and one who utters lies will not escape.
6 Many seek a ruler’s favor,
and everyone is a friend of one who gives gifts.
7 All the brothers of a poor person hate him;
how much more do his friends
keep their distance from him!
He may pursue them with words,
but they are not there.
8 The one who acquires good sense loves himself;
one who safeguards understanding finds success.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and one who utters lies perishes.
10 Luxury is not appropriate for a fool ​— ​
how much less for a slave to rule over princes!
11 A person’s insight gives him patience,
and his virtue is to overlook an offense.
12 A king’s rage is like the roaring of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.
13 A foolish son is his father’s ruin,
and a wife’s nagging is an endless dripping.
14 A house and wealth are inherited from fathers,
but a prudent wife is from the Lord.
15 Laziness induces deep sleep,
and a lazy person will go hungry.
16 The one who keeps commands preserves himself;
one who disregards his ways will die.
17 Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord,
and he will give a reward to the lender.
18 Discipline your son while there is hope;
don’t set your heart on being the cause of his death.
19 A person with intense anger bears the penalty;
if you rescue him, you’ll have to do it again.
20 Listen to counsel and receive instruction
so that you may be wise later in life.
21 Many plans are in a person’s heart,
but the Lord’s decree will prevail.
22 What is desirable in a person is his fidelity;
better to be a poor person than a liar.
23 The fear of the Lord leads to life;
one will sleep at night without danger.
24 The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth!
25 Strike a mocker, and the inexperienced learn a lesson;
rebuke the discerning, and he gains knowledge.
26 The one who plunders his father and evicts his mother
is a disgraceful and shameful son.
27 If you stop listening to correction, my son,
you will stray from the words of knowledge.
28 A worthless witness mocks justice,
and a wicked mouth swallows iniquity.
29 Judgments are prepared for mockers,
and beatings for the backs of fools.

Proverbs 20

Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler;
whoever goes astray because of them is not wise.
2 A king’s terrible wrath is like the roaring of a lion;
anyone who provokes him endangers himself.
3 Honor belongs to the person who ends a dispute,
but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.
4 The slacker does not plow during planting season;
at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.
5 Counsel in a person’s heart is deep water;
but a person of understanding draws it out.
6 Many a person proclaims his own loyalty,
but who can find a trustworthy person?
7 A righteous person acts with integrity;
his children who come after him will be happy.
8 A king sitting on a throne to judge
separates out all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure;
I am cleansed from my sin”?
10 Differing weights and varying measures —
both are detestable to the Lord.
11 Even a young man is known by his actions —
by whether his behavior is pure and upright.
12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye —
the Lord made them both.
13 Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor;
open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.
14 “It’s worthless, it’s worthless! ” the buyer says,
but after he is on his way, he gloats.
15 There is gold and a multitude of jewels,
but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.
16 Take his garment,
for he has put up security for a stranger;
get collateral if it is for foreigners.
17 Food gained by fraud is sweet to a person,
but afterward his mouth is full of gravel.
18 Finalize plans with counsel,
and wage war with sound guidance.
19 The one who reveals secrets is a constant gossip;
avoid someone with a big mouth.
20 Whoever curses his father or mother ​— ​
his lamp will go out in deep darkness.
21 An inheritance gained prematurely
will not be blessed ultimately.
22 Don’t say, “I will avenge this evil! ”
Wait on the Lord, and he will rescue you.
23 Differing weights are detestable to the Lord,
and dishonest scales are unfair.
24 Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the Lord,
so how can anyone understand his own way?
25 It is a trap for anyone to dedicate something rashly
and later to reconsider his vows.
26 A wise king separates out the wicked
and drives the threshing wheel over them.
27 The Lord’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life,
searching the innermost parts.
28 Loyalty and faithfulness guard a king;
through loyalty he maintains his throne.
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
and the splendor of old men is gray hair.
30 Lashes and wounds purge away evil,
and beatings cleanse the innermost parts.

2 Corinthians 3

LIVING LETTERS
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God ​— ​not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

PAUL’S COMPETENCE
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. 6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

NEW COVENANT MINISTRY
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. 10 In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness. 13 We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside, 14 but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. 15 Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

— 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 (CSB)