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 4,13 Spr 4,13
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:And happy is every one that retaineth her.
And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
So shall they be life unto thy soul,And grace to thy neck.
Buy the truth, and sell it not;Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
It was but a little that I passed from them,When I found him whom my soul loveth:I held him, and would not let him go,Until I had brought him into my mother's house,And into the chamber of her that conceived me.
For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over the Jordan to possess it.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and {Or, in fellowship}fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they were going: and he made as though he would go further.
And they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. And he went in to abide with them.
For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it.
who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and he exhorted them all, {Some ancient authorities read that they would cleave unto the purpose of their heart in the Lord.}that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord:
And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did.
So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days.
And many more believed because of his word;
and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou {Or, hast words}hast the words of eternal life.
{Many ancient authorities insert but.}prove all things; hold fast that which is good;
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them.
I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days {The Greek text here is somewhat uncertain.}of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.