Foundation and Faith: Building God's Kingdom

1. At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built Yahweh’s house and his own house, 2. Solomon built the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. 3. Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it. 4. He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath. 5. Also he built Beth Horon the upper and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; 6. and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7. As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel; 8. of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel didn’t consume, of them Solomon conscripted forced labor to this day. 9. But of the children of Israel, Solomon made no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. 10. These were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two-hundred fifty, who ruled over the people. 11. Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter out of David’s city to the house that he had built for her; for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where Yahweh’s ark has come are holy.” 12. Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on Yahweh’s altar, which he had built before the porch, 13. even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of tents. 14. He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate, for David the man of God had so commanded. 15. They didn’t depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. 16. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared from the day of the foundation of Yahweh’s house until it was finished. So Yahweh’s house was completed. 17. Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. 18. Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and brought from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon. 1. When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, including camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart. 2. Solomon answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her. 3. When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 4. the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers also, their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her. 5. She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. 6. However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You exceed the fame that I heard! 7. Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom. 8. Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for Yahweh your God; because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever. Therefore made he you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.” 9. She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There was never before such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 10. The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones. 11. The king used algum tree wood to make terraces for Yahweh’s house and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah. 12. King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which she had brought to the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants. 13. Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold, 14. besides that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15. King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one buckler. 16. He made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 17. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 18. There were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. 19. Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom. 20. All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 21. For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 22. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23. All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24. They each brought tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules every year. 25. Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he stationed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. 26. He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. 27. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland. 28. They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt and out of all lands. 29. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren’t they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30. Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31. Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in his father David’s city: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. 1. Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2. When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon), Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. 3. They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4. “Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.” 5. He said to them, “Come again to me after three days.” So the people departed. 6. King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me about how to answer these people?” 7. They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8. But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9. He said to them, “What counsel do you give, that we may give an answer to these people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?’” 10. The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter on us;’ thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11. Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’” 12. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, “Come to me again the third day.” 13. The king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of the old men, 14. and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” 15. So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was brought about by God, that Yahweh might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16. When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel departed to their tents. 17. But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 18. Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and the children of Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam hurried to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. 19. So Israel rebelled against David’s house to this day. 1. When Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. 2. But Yahweh’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 3. “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, 4. ‘Yahweh says, “You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers! Every man return to his house; for this thing is of me.”’” So they listened to Yahweh’s words, and returned from going against Jeroboam. 5. Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. 6. He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7. Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, 8. Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9. Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10. Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. 11. He fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, oil and wine. 12. He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceedingly strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. 13. The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him out of all their territory. 14. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office to Yahweh. 15. He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made. 16. After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, those who set their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. 17. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years; for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon. 18. Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. 19. She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20. After her, he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21. Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. 22. Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the prince among his brothers; for he intended to make him king. 23. He dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city. He gave them food in abundance and he sought many wives for them.

1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God, 2. which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3. concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, 4. who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5. through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake; 6. among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ; 7. to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9. For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers, 10. requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you. 11. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established; 12. that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13. Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14. I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15. So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. 17. For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.” 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19. because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. 20. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse. 21. Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. 22. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23. and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. 24. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves; 25. who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. 27. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. 28. 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; 29. being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, 30. backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31. without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32. who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. 1. Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. 2. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3. Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5. But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; 6. who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7. to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; 8. but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation, 9. oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 10. But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11. For there is no partiality with God. 12. For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13. For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified 14. (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15. in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) 16. in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ. 17. Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God, 18. and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19. and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20. a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. 21. You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? 22. You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23. You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law? 24. For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. 25. For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26. If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? 27. Won’t the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? 28. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; 29. but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God. 1. Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision? 2. Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the revelations of God. 3. For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God? 4. May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.” 5. But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do. 6. May it never be! For then how will God judge the world? 7. For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8. Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), “Let us do evil, that good may come?” Those who say so are justly condemned. 9. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin. 10. As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. 11. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. 12. They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.” 13. “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”; 14. “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15. “Their feet are swift to shed blood. 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways. 17. The way of peace, they haven’t known.” 18. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19. Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. 20. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21. But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; 22. even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction, 23. for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; 24. being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; 25. whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; 26. to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus. 27. Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28. We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29. Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30. since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith. 31. Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law. 1. What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. 3. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4. Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5. But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. 6. Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, 7. “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8. Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.” 9. Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10. How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11. He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them. 12. He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision. 13. For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. 15. For the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience. 16. For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 17. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. 18. Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.” 19. Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, 21. and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. 22. Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” 23. Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, 24. but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, 25. who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification. 1. Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 2. through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; 4. and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: 5. and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6. For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. 8. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life. 11. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12. Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. 13. For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. 15. But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16. The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification. 17. For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. 18. So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. 19. For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. 20. The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly; 21. that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1. Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise. 2. The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life. 3. It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling. 4. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing. 5. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6. Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man? 7. A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him. 8. A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes. 9. Who can say, “I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin?” 10. Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. 11. Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right. 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made even both of them. 13. Don’t love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread. 14. “It’s no good, it’s no good,” says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts. 15. There is gold and abundance of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel. 16. Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman. 17. Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel. 18. Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war! 19. He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips. 20. Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness. 21. An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won’t be blessed in the end. 22. Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you. 23. Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing. 24. A man’s steps are from Yahweh; how then can man understand his way? 25. It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows. 26. A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them. 27. The spirit of man is Yahweh’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts. 28. Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love. 29. The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair. 30. Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.