Old/New Testament
10 Dead flies will cause even a bottle of perfume to stink! Yes, a small mistake can outweigh much wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man’s heart leads him to do right, and a fool’s heart leads him to do evil. 3 You can identify a fool just by the way he walks down the street!
4 If the boss is angry with you, don’t quit! A quiet spirit will quiet his bad temper.
5 There is another evil I have seen as I have watched the world go by, a sad situation concerning kings and rulers: 6 For I have seen foolish men given great authority and rich men not given their rightful place of dignity! 7 I have even seen servants riding, while princes walk like servants!
8-9 Dig a well—and fall into it! Demolish an old wall—and be bitten by a snake! When working in a quarry, stones will fall and crush you! There is risk in each stroke of your ax!
10 A dull ax requires great strength; be wise and sharpen the blade.
11 When the horse is stolen, it is too late to lock the barn.[a]
12-13 It is pleasant to listen to wise words, but a fool’s speech brings him to ruin. Since he begins with a foolish premise, his conclusion is sheer madness. 14 A fool knows all about the future and tells everyone in detail! But who can really know what is going to happen? 15 A fool is so upset by a little work that he has no strength for the simplest matter.[b]
16-17 Woe to the land whose king is a child and whose leaders are already drunk in the morning. Happy the land whose king is a nobleman and whose leaders work hard before they feast and drink, and then only to strengthen themselves for the tasks ahead! 18 Laziness lets the roof leak, and soon the rafters begin to rot. 19 A party gives laughter, and wine gives happiness, and money gives everything! 20 Never curse the king, not even in your thoughts, nor the rich man, either; for a little bird will tell them what you’ve said.
11 Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later. 2 Divide your gifts among many,[c] for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.
3 When the clouds are heavy, the rains come down; when a tree falls, whether south or north, the die is cast, for there it lies. 4 If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.[d] 5 God’s ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind and as the manner in which a human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is yet in its mother’s womb. 6 Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will.
7 It is a wonderful thing to be alive! 8 If a person lives to be very old, let him rejoice in every day of life, but let him also remember that eternity is far longer and that everything down here is futile in comparison.
9 Young man, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it! Do all you want to; take in everything, but realize that you must account to God for everything you do. 10 So banish grief and pain, but remember that youth, with a whole life before it, can make serious mistakes.
12 Don’t let the excitement of being young cause you to forget about your Creator. Honor him in your youth before the evil years come—when you’ll no longer enjoy living. 2 It will be too late then to try to remember him when the sun and light and moon and stars are dim to your old eyes, and there is no silver lining left among your clouds. 3 For there will come a time when your limbs will tremble with age, your strong legs will become weak, and your teeth will be too few to do their work, and there will be blindness too. 4 Then let your lips be tightly closed while eating when your teeth are gone! And you will waken at dawn with the first note of the birds; but you yourself will be deaf and tuneless, with quavering voice. 5 You will be afraid of heights and of falling—a white-haired, withered old man, dragging himself along: without sexual desire, standing at death’s door, and nearing his everlasting home as the mourners go along the streets.
6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young—before the silver cord of life snaps and the gold bowl is broken; before the pitcher is broken at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the cistern; 7 then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 All is futile, says the Preacher; utterly futile.
9 But then, because the Preacher was wise, he went on teaching the people all he knew; and he collected proverbs and classified them. 10 For the Preacher was not only a wise man but a good teacher; he not only taught what he knew to the people, but taught them in an interesting manner. 11 The wise man’s words are like goads that spur to action. They nail down important truths. Students are wise who master what their teachers tell them.
12 But, my son, be warned: there is no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting!
13 Here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man. 14 For God will judge us for everything we do, including every hidden thing, good or bad.
1 1-2 From: Paul the missionary and all the other Christians here.
To: The churches of Galatia.[a]
I was not called to be a missionary by any group or agency. My call is from Jesus Christ himself and from God the Father who raised him from the dead. 3 May peace and blessing be yours from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 He died for our sins just as God our Father planned, and rescued us from this evil world in which we live. 5 All glory to God through all the ages of eternity. Amen.
6 I am amazed that you are turning away so soon from God who, in his love and mercy, invited you to share the eternal life he gives through Christ; you are already following a different “way to heaven,” which really doesn’t go to heaven at all. 7 For there is no other way than the one we showed you; you are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curses fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other way to be saved than the one we told you about; yes, if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed. 9 I will say it again: if anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God’s curse fall upon him.
10 You can see that I am not trying to please you by sweet talk and flattery; no, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please men I could not be Christ’s servant.
11 Dear friends, I solemnly swear that the way to heaven that I preach is not based on some mere human whim or dream. 12 For my message comes from no less a person than Jesus Christ himself, who told me what to say. No one else has taught me.
13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I went after the Christians mercilessly, hunting them down and doing my best to get rid of them all. 14 I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age in the whole country and tried as hard as I possibly could to follow all the old, traditional rules of my religion.
15 But then something happened! For even before I was born, God had chosen me to be his and called me—what kindness and grace— 16 to reveal his Son within me so that I could go to the Gentiles and show them the Good News about Jesus.
When all this happened to me I didn’t go at once and talk it over with anyone else; 17 I didn’t go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. No, I went away into the deserts of Arabia and then came back to the city of Damascus. 18 It was not until three years later that I finally went to Jerusalem for a visit with Peter and stayed there with him for fifteen days. 19 And the only other apostle I met at that time was James, our Lord’s brother. 20 (Listen to what I am saying, for I am telling you this in the very presence of God. This is exactly what happened—I am not lying to you.) 21 Then after this visit I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the Christians in Judea didn’t even know what I looked like. 23 All they knew was what people were saying, that “our former enemy is now preaching the very faith he tried to wreck.” 24 And they gave glory to God because of me.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.