20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,
and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
2 The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion;
whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life.
3 It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,
but every fool will be quarreling.
4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
5 The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.
6 Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,
but a faithful man who can find?
7 The righteous who walks in his integrity—
blessed are his children after him!
8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment
winnows all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, “I have made my heart pure;
I am clean from my sin”?
10 Unequal weights and unequal measures
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
11 Even a child makes himself known by his acts,
by whether his conduct is pure and upright.
12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
the Lord has made them both.
13 Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty;
open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
14 “Bad, bad,” says the buyer,
but when he goes away, then he boasts.
15 There is gold and abundance of costly stones,
but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
16 Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.
17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
18 Plans are established by counsel;
by wise guidance wage war.
19 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.
20 If one curses his father or his mother,
his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.
21 An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning
will not be blessed in the end.
22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”;
wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.
23 Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord,
and false scales are not good.
24 A man’s steps are from the Lord;
how then can man understand his way?
25 It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,”
and to reflect only after making vows.
26 A wise king winnows the wicked
and drives the wheel over them.
27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,
searching all his innermost parts.
28 Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,
and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.
30 Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
strokes make clean the innermost parts.
(ESV)
Acts 3
Acts 2
Acts 1
Luke 24
Luke 23
Luke 22
Luke 21
Luke 20
Luke 19
Luke 18
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
We all have 24 hours in a day. Are we pleasing God with it and living for His glory?
Nice comment Jeff!
Wow, this chapter had so many good verses in it, so I just picked out a few that really stood out to me
4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
How often do people, and sometimes us, procrastinate or not do things, and then when the time comes for them to be due or completed, find absolutely nothing? Lets all use our gifts and abilities for the Lord, and not be sluggards!
7 The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.
I liked the first part of this verse because it reminds me of how we are to live like Christ, pure and blameless, walking in the light. Another term for this is living above reproach! If someone looked at your life, could he say that about you? I know its something we all need to work on!
25 It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows.
This verse is a great reminder to think before we act. The man of discernment who does not act out rashly but instead thinks things through will rarely be trapped by something he says or does. But if we are quick to speak up or act, then we may find ourselves in difficult situations that could have been easily avoided.
30 Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.
This verse brings to mind our struggle against sin. We need to hate sin so much that we are willing to do whatever it takes to put it to death in our lives. if we take this approach and seek out the help that we need, we will experience victory over sin in our lives. But if we are not willing to take action against it, we will continue to live in sin and drift farther and farther away from God.
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
I agree with Jeff! We need to make sure that we are using our time wisely and using it ALL for the glory of God. This is definatly a convicting verse for when i sleep in. I need to make sure that i am not being lazy.
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
This verse also stood out to me. Especially since it is summer, we need to not forget that God should be our number one priority! We should be doing everything for his glory, and to live a life pleasing to God. I know that I could definately be using my time more wisely for my bible reading! I do not want to be lazy, thats for sure.
25 It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows.
Like holding our tongue, we need to think before we act. We need to avoid acting out of impulse and instead consider our decisions, or we may end up promising something we can’t keep or become trapped by what we say.
22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
This verse emphasizes our dependence on God for everything…even to deliver us from those who have wronged us. We can do nothing on our own and we should never try to “pay someone back” for evil done to us…God is the only one who is just and he is in charge of all retribution.
18 Make plans by seeking advice….
This verse really hit me as I was reading this…. I have always read in the the Bible to seek knowledge and Godly wisdom, but it never crossed my mind that seeking wisdom could come from the advice of other Godly and Wise fellow Christians. We can seek wisdom from our pastors, our parents, our small group leaders, and at times our christian brothers and sisters who are dedicated and walking with the Lord! :)
3 It is to a man’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.
It’s kinda weird that today, in our culture a man’s honor is often gained by strife, or fighting, But in reality, the man who avoids fights or conflicts truly gains honor. If we are quick to quarrel, we are fools.
19 A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.
The truth about gossip revealed here in Scripture…it betrays! We need to be cautious and careful with the words we choose to speak and with whom we choose to share things with. In all things it should be honoring to the Lord.
NEW BLOG :)
22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
Just like David did against Saul, Saul tried to kill David many times and David had a chance to kill Saul one time, but he didn’t, and he let the Lord deal with Saul. We should not seek revenge on people and not repay evil for evil or do no harm to the person. The Lord has everything planned out for a purpose and He will deliver us.
Hi everyone! I read… I realy liked verse 19:
v.19 A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.
This verse tells us to stay away from gossip. It’s important to realize that gossip is a sin. I need to be more careful about who I’m hanging out with and who my close friends are & make sure they don’t gossip… cuz’ it’s easy to find yourself being dragged into a conversation you know you shouldn’t be in & we need to be glorifying God through what we say too.
See you all tomorrow <333
Jessica, Great to have you on here! Welcome!
7 The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.
I was thinking about this today because I preached a funeral. At the funeral, all of the woman’s children had great things to say about her and were blessed because she was their mom. It made me think what the people in my life would say about me. Would they say that I had blessed them? I’d encourage you to consider the impact you are having on the people around you…what would they say about you if you were gone?
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
I agree with Jeff as well. This verse is so convicting to me because I am a major sleeper. I’ll sleep all day. But when I think about it I’m wasting so much time that I could be better using to glorify God.
(:
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
I need to listen to this verse. i am trying to wake up earlier so that i can be awake in more hours of daylight. Bbut i need to discipline myself to wake up earlier.
13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
This is such a good verse for us high school students at this time of year.It is so easy just to want to sleep and just chill all summer long. But thats not what we need to do at all. We need to stay awake and use our times for things that will help us in our walk with God.
4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
I like this verse, it applies to all the “Christians” out there. It’s saying if you don’t do anything here on Earth (ex.worship, evangelizing, proudly declaring God’s name, etc.) then you’re not going to have anything after death.