Proverbs 9:18

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

The fear of Yahweh teaches wisdom. Before honor is humility.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?

For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.

who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,

The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?

By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.

Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.

Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.

Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside.

Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.

since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?

The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars.

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.

to him who spread out the earth above the waters; for his loving kindness endures forever:

“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.

The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.

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

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.

for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.

Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”

“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,

What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

What man is he who fears Yahweh? He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose.

Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?

His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

With my whole heart, I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments.

then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.

to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.

The path of life leads upward for the wise, to keep him from going downward to Sheol.

He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.

For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.

“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed Yahweh, their God’s voice, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as Yahweh, their God, had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.

But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment. Whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness even until now.

Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”

They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Salvation is far from the wicked, for they don’t seek your statutes.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.

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

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

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

Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.

The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.

I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God,