Proverbs 4

• 1. My children, listen to me. Listen to your father's instruction. Pay attention and grow wise,
• 2. for I am giving you good guidance. Don't turn away from my teaching.
• 3. For I, too, was once my father's son, tenderly loved by my mother as an only child.
• 4. My father told me, "Take my words to heart. Follow my instructions and you will live.
• 5. Learn to be wise, and develop good judgment. Don't forget or turn away from my words.
• 6. Don't turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you.
• 7. Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And whatever else you do, get good judgment.
• 8. If you prize wisdom, she will exalt you. Embrace her and she will honor you.
• 9. She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown."
• 10. My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.
• 11. I will teach you wisdom's ways and lead you in straight paths.
• 12. If you live a life guided by wisdom, you won't limp or stumble as you run.
• 13. Carry out my instructions; don't forsake them. Guard them, for they will lead you to a fulfilled life.
• 14. Do not do as the wicked do or follow the path of evildoers.
• 15. Avoid their haunts. Turn away and go somewhere else,
• 16. for evil people cannot sleep until they have done their evil deed for the day. They cannot rest unless they have caused someone to stumble.
• 17. They eat wickedness and drink violence!
• 18. The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
• 19. But the way of the wicked is like complete darkness. Those who follow it have no idea what they are stumbling over.
• 20. Pay attention, my child, to what I say. Listen carefully.
• 21. Don't lose sight of my words. Let them penetrate deep within your heart,
• 22. for they bring life and radiant health to anyone who discovers their meaning.
• 23. Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.
• 24. Avoid all perverse talk; stay far from corrupt speech.
• 25. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
• 26. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe.
• 27. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.

Proverbs 5

• 1. My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel.
• 2. Then you will learn to be discreet and will store up knowledge.
• 3. The lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.
• 4. But the result is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword.
• 5. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
• 6. For she does not care about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn't even realize where it leads.
• 7. So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say:
• 8. Run from her! Don't go near the door of her house!
• 9. If you do, you will lose your honor and hand over to merciless people everything you have achieved in life.
• 10. Strangers will obtain your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
• 11. Afterward you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body,
• 12. and you will say, "How I hated discipline! If only I had not demanded my own way!
• 13. Oh, why didn't I listen to my teachers? Why didn't I pay attention to those who gave me instruction?
• 14. I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace."
• 15. Drink water from your own well--share your love only with your wife.
• 16. Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone?
• 17. You should reserve it for yourselves. Don't share it with strangers.
• 18. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
• 19. She is a loving doe, a graceful deer. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.
• 20. Why be captivated, my son, with an immoral woman, or embrace the breasts of an adulterous woman?
• 21. For the LORD sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes.
• 22. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.
• 23. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his incredible folly.

Proverbs 6

• 1. My child, if you co-sign a loan for a friend or guarantee the debt of someone you hardly know--
• 2. if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said--
• 3. quick, get out of it if you possibly can! You have placed yourself at your friend's mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased.
• 4. Don't put it off. Do it now! Don't rest until you do.
• 5. Save yourself like a deer escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.
• 6. Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise!
• 7. Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work,
• 8. they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
• 9. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson:
• 10. A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest--
• 11. and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
• 12. Here is a description of worthless and wicked people: They are constant liars,
• 13. signaling their true intentions to their friends by making signs with their eyes and feet and fingers.
• 14. Their perverted hearts plot evil. They stir up trouble constantly.
• 15. But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken beyond all hope of healing.
• 16. There are six things the LORD hates--no, seven things he detests:
• 17. haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,
• 18. a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,
• 19. a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord among brothers.
• 20. My son, obey your father's commands, and don't neglect your mother's teaching.
• 21. Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.
• 22. Wherever you walk, their counsel can lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up in the morning, they will advise you.
• 23. For these commands and this teaching are a lamp to light the way ahead of you. The correction of discipline is the way to life.
• 24. These commands and this teaching will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of an adulterous woman.
• 25. Don't lust for her beauty. Don't let her coyness seduce you.
• 26. For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, and sleeping with another man's wife may cost you your very life.
• 27. Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned?
• 28. Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?
• 29. So it is with the man who sleeps with another man's wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
• 30. Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving.
• 31. But if he is caught, he will be fined seven times as much as he stole, even if it means selling everything in his house to pay it back.
• 32. But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul.
• 33. Wounds and constant disgrace are his lot. His shame will never be erased.
• 34. For the woman's husband will be furious in his jealousy, and he will have no mercy in his day of vengeance.
• 35. There is no compensation or bribe that will satisfy him.

New Living Translation: 220 of 324 days.