His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,
Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!
Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples,
to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—
Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,
to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason;
like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths,
For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird,
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.
Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.
For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;
then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.
delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,
So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words,
who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;
for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;
none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.
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