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 4,18 Spr 4,18
He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,A morning without clouds,When the tender grass springeth out of the earth,Through clear shining after rain.
And thy life shall {Or, rise above}be clearer than the noonday;Though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.
{Or, For}But he knoweth {Hebrew: the way that is with me.}the way that I take;When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
They go from strength to strength;Every one of them appeareth before God in Zion.
And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that {Or, the light shall not be bright nor dark}there shall not be light; the bright ones shall withdraw themselves:
but it shall be one day which is known unto Jehovah; not day, and not night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light.
Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.
Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.
But we all, with unveiled face {Or, reflecting as a mirror}beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as {Greek: luminaries. Wisd. 13:2; compare Revelation 21:11}lights in the world,
And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a {Greek: squalid.}dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts:
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and {Greek: unto the day of eternity. Ecclus. 18:10}for ever. Amen.
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, {Or, and the Lamb, the lamp thereof}and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.
And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign {Greek: unto the ages of the ages.}for ever and ever.