Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father,
And attend to know understanding:
For I give you good doctrine;
Forsake ye not my {Or, teaching}law.
For I was a son unto my father,
Tender and {Hebrew: an only one.}only beloved in the sight of my mother.
And he taught me, and said unto me:
Let thy heart retain my words;
Keep my commandments, and live;
Get wisdom, get understanding;
Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth;
Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee;
Love her, and she will keep thee.
{Or, The beginning of wisdom is, Get wisdom}Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom;
Yea, with all {Or, thou hast gotten}thy getting get understanding.
Exalt her, and she will promote thee;
She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace;
A crown of {Or, glory}beauty will she deliver to thee.
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings;
And the years of thy life shall be many.
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom;
I have led thee in paths of uprightness.
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;
And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:
Keep her; for she is thy life.
Enter not into the path of the wicked,
And walk not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it;
Turn from it, and pass on.
For they sleep not, except they do evil;
And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light,
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness:
They know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words;
Incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes;
Keep them in the midst of thy heart.
For they are life unto those that find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart {Or, above all that thou guardest}with all diligence;
For out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a wayward mouth,
And perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on,
And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
{Or, Weigh carefully}Make level the path of thy feet,
And let all thy ways be {Or, ordered aright}established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
Remove thy foot from evil.
Querverweise zu Sprüche 4,12 Spr 4,12
When thou walkest, it shall lead thee;When thou {Hebrew: liest down.}sleepest, it shall watch over thee;And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
The way of the wicked is as darkness:They know not at what they stumble.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me;And my {Hebrew: ankles.}feet have not slipped.
Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely,And {Hebrew: thou shall not dash thy foot.}thy foot shall not stumble.
The steps of his strength shall be straitened,And his own counsel shall cast him down.
For he will give his angels charge over thee,To keep thee in all thy ways.
For he is cast into a net by his own feet,And he walketh upon the toils.
They shall bear thee up in their hands,Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,And my {Hebrew: ankles.}feet have not slipped.
Great peace have they that love thy law;And they have no occasion of stumbling.
They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will {Or, bring them unto}cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
Wherefore? {Or, Because, doing it not by faith, but as it were by works, they stumbled}Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling;
even as it is written, {Isaiah 28:16}Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence:And he that believeth on {Or, it}him shall not be put to shame.
and, {Isaiah 8:14.}A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; {Greek: who.}for they {Or, stumble, being disobedient to the word}stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.