Scripture Readings

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Proverbs 2:1-22 (Vespers, 2nd reading)

1
My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you,
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so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
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yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding,
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if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;
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then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
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For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
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he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
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he guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints.
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Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.
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When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
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discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you,
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to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things,
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from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness;
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who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked;
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whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths;
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to deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words,
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who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.
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For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead;
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none who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life –
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so you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness.
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For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
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but the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.