Psalm 119:9-16

New International Version

ב Beth

⁹How can a young person stay on the path of purity?^(A)
    By living according to your word.^(B)
¹⁰I seek you with all my heart;^(C)
    do not let me stray from your commands.^(D)
¹¹I have hidden your word in my heart^(E)
    that I might not sin^(F) against you.
¹²Praise be^(G) to you, Lord;
    teach me^(H) your decrees.^(I)
¹³With my lips I recount
    all the laws that come from your mouth.^(J)
¹⁴I rejoice in following your statutes^(K)
    as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵I meditate on your precepts^(L)
    and consider your ways.
¹⁶I delight^(M) in your decrees;
    I will not neglect your word.

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Proverbs 2:1-15

New International Version

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

2 My son,^(A) if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
²turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding^(B)—
³indeed, if you call out for insight^(C)
    and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,^(D)
⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.^(E)
⁶For the Lord gives wisdom;^(F)
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.^(G)
⁷He holds success in store for the upright,
    he is a shield^(H) to those whose walk is blameless,^(I)
⁸for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful ones.^(J)

⁹Then you will understand^(K) what is right and just
    and fair—every good path.
¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart,^(L)
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
¹¹Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.^(M)

¹²Wisdom will save^(N) you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse,
¹³who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways,^(O)
¹⁴who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,^(P)
¹⁵whose paths are crooked^(Q)
    and who are devious in their ways.^(R)

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Matthew 19:1-12

New International Version

Divorce^(A)

19 When Jesus had finished saying these things,^(B) he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. ²Large crowds followed him, and he healed them^(C) there.

³Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife^(D) for any and every reason?”

⁴“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^[a]^(E) ⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]?^(F) ⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

⁷“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”^(G)

⁸Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. ⁹I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”^(H)

¹⁰The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.^(I) ¹²For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

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