One Year Bible.

A Good Name

¹A good name is more desirable than great riches;

favor is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor have this in common:

The LORD is Maker of them all.

³The prudent see danger and take cover,

but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.

⁴The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD

are wealth and honor and life.

⁵Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse;

he who guards his soul stays far from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor,

and the borrower is slave to the lender.

⁸He who sows injustice will reap disaster,

and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹A generous man will be blessed,

for he shares his bread with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart;

even quarreling and insults will cease.

¹¹He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips

will have the king for a friend.

¹²The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge,

but He frustrates the words of the faithless.

¹³The slacker says, “There is a lion outside!

I will be slain in the streets!”

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit;

he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.

¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child,

but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich

will surely lead to poverty.

Thirty Sayings of the Wise

Saying 1

¹⁷Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise —

apply your mind to my knowledge —

¹⁸for it is pleasing when you keep them within you

and they are constantly on your lips.

¹⁹So that your trust may be in the LORD,

I instruct you today — yes, you.

²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings

about counsel and knowledge,

²¹to show you true and reliable words,

that you may soundly answer those who sent you?

Saying 2

²²Do not rob a poor man because he is poor,

and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,

²³for the LORD will take up their case

and will plunder those who rob them.

Saying 3

²⁴Do not make friends with an angry man,

and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,

²⁵or you may learn his ways

and entangle yourself in a snare.

Saying 4

²⁶Do not be one who gives pledges,

who puts up security for debts.

²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay,

why should your bed be taken from under you?

Saying 5

²⁸Do not move an ancient boundary stone

which your fathers have placed.

Saying 6

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work?

He will be stationed in the presence of kings;

he will not stand before obscure men.

True Riches

Saying 7

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

consider carefully what is set before you,

²and put a knife to your throat

if you possess a great appetite.

³Do not crave his delicacies,

for that food is deceptive.

Saying 8

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

be wise enough to restrain yourself.

⁵When you glance at wealth, it disappears,

for it makes wings for itself

and flies like an eagle to the sky.

Saying 9

⁶Do not eat the bread of a stingy man,

and do not crave his delicacies;

⁷for he is keeping track,

inwardly counting the cost.

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up what little you have eaten

and waste your pleasant words.

Saying 10

⁹Do not speak to a fool,

for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Saying 11

¹⁰Do not move an ancient boundary stone

or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong;

He will take up their case against you.

Saying 12

¹²Apply your heart to instruction

and your ears to words of knowledge.

Saying 13

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child;

although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Strike him with a rod,

and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

Saying 14

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,

my own heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My inmost being will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

Saying 15

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

¹⁸For surely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

Saying 16

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise,

and guide your heart on the right course.

²⁰Do not join those who drink too much wine

or gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

Saying 17

²²Listen to your father who gave you life,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Invest in truth and never sell it—

in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice,

and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵May your father and mother be glad,

and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

Saying 18

²⁶My son, give me your heart,

and let your eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit,

and an adulteress is a narrow well.

²⁸Like a robber she lies in wait

and multiplies the faithless among men.

Saying 19

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaints?

Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine,

who go to taste mixed drinks.

³¹Do not gaze at wine while it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup

and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snake

and stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind will utter perversities.

³⁴You will be like one sleeping on the high seas

or lying on the top of a mast:

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain!

They beat me, but I did not know it!

When can I wake up

to search for another drink?”

Greetings from Paul and Timothy

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker, ²to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets at your house:

³Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon’s Faith and Love

⁴I always thank my God, remembering you in my prayers, ⁵because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. ⁶I pray that your partnership in the faith may become effective as you fully acknowledge every good thing that is ours in Christ. ⁷I take great joy and encouragement in your love, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

Paul’s Appeal for Onesimus

⁸So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do what is proper, ⁹I prefer to appeal on the basis of love. For I, Paul, am now aged, and a prisoner of Christ Jesus as well.

¹⁰I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in chains. ¹¹Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. ¹²I am sending back to you him who is my very heart.

¹³I would have liked to keep him with me, so that on your behalf he could minister to me in my chains for the gospel. ¹⁴But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness will not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will. ¹⁵For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for good — ¹⁶no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a beloved brother. He is especially beloved to me, but even more so to you, both in person and in the Lord.

¹⁷So if you consider me a partner, receive him as you would receive me. ¹⁸But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account. ¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it— not to mention that you owe me your very self.

²⁰Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

²²In the meantime, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

Additional Greetings

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, ²⁴as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

The Supremacy of the Son

¹On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. ²But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ⁴So He became as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs. ⁵For to which of the angels did God ever say:

“You are My Son;

today I have become Your Father”?

Or again:

“I will be His Father,

and He will be My Son”?

⁶And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says:

“Let all God’s angels worship Him.”

⁷Now about the angels He says:

“He makes His angels winds,

His servants flames of fire.”

⁸But about the Son He says:

“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever,

and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom.

⁹You have loved righteousness

and hated wickedness;

therefore God, Your God, has anointed You

above Your companions with the oil of joy.”

¹⁰And:

“In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

¹¹They will perish, but You remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

¹²You will roll them up like a robe;

like a garment they will be changed;

but You remain the same,

and Your years will never end.”

¹³Yet to which of the angels did God ever say:

“Sit at My right hand

until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”?

¹⁴Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Salvation Confirmed

¹We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ²For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, ³how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, ⁴and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

Jesus like His Brothers

⁵For it is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. ⁶But somewhere it is testified in these words:

“What is man that You are mindful of him,

or the son of man that You care for him?

⁷You made him a little lower than the angels;

You crowned him with glory and honor

⁸and placed everything under his feet.”

When God subjected all things to him, He left nothing outside of his control. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. ⁹But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. ¹¹For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. ¹²He says:

“I will proclaim Your name to My brothers;

I will sing Your praises in the assembly.”

¹³And again:

“I will put My trust in Him.”

And once again:

“Here am I, and the children God has given Me.”

¹⁴Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

¹⁶For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.