Wisdom of Solomon
Chapter 1 of 19
1Love wisdom, you rulers of the earth. Think on the power of the LORD with a good mind, and seek him with an open heart. 2For he is found by those who do not test him, and he shows himself to those who do not deny him. 3Crooked thoughts drive people far from the LORD, and his power, when it is tested, rebukes the foolish. 4Wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul, and she will not live in a body that is enslaved to sin. 5For the holy spirit of discipline flees from the teaching of evil. It rises and leaves the thoughts of the foolish, and it rebukes evil when evil comes. 6For the spirit of wisdom loves people, yet it will not clear a slanderer of what his lips have said. The LORD is a witness to his inmost being, a true observer who watches his heart and hears his tongue. 7For the Spirit of the LORD fills the world, and the one who holds all the world together knows every word people speak. 8Because of this, no one who speaks a word of wrong can hide from him, not in anything at all. 9His judgment will not pass him by when his deeds are exposed. He searches out the wicked in the schemes of their thoughts, and the sound of their words reaches the LORD to convict them of their guilt. 10For a jealous ear hears everything, and the sound of grumbling is not hidden from him. 11So guard yourselves from useless grumbling, and keep your tongue from slander. No word spoken in secret goes for nothing, and a mouth that lies and deceives kills the soul. 12Guard your tongue. Do not chase after death by the error of your life, and do not bring destruction on yourselves by the work of your hands. 13For the LORD did not make death, and he takes no pleasure in the ruin of the living. He created all things so that they would exist, and the generations of the world for health and salvation. 14There is no deadly poison among them, and the grave has no kingdom on the earth, for righteousness is immortal. 15But the wicked called death to themselves with their hands and their words. They counted it a friend and wasted away for it. 16They made a covenant with it, for they deserve to be its portion. ‹
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Wisdom of Solomon · Chapter 1 of 19