Psalm 2:10-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 And now, kings, give heed;
take warning, judges on earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear;
exult with trembling,
Accept correction
lest he become angry and you perish along the way
when his anger suddenly blazes up.(A)
Blessed are all who take refuge in him!
Proverbs 4:4-9
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
4 He taught me and said to me:
“Let your heart hold fast my words:(A)
keep my commands, and live!
5 Get wisdom,[a] get understanding!
Do not forget or turn aside from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
love her, and she will safeguard you;
7 The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom;
whatever else you get, get understanding.
8 Extol her, and she will exalt you;
she will bring you honors if you embrace her;
9 She will put on your head a graceful diadem;
a glorious crown will she bestow on you.”
Proverbs 7:1-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 7
The Seduction[a]
1 [b]My son, keep my words,
and treasure my commands.
2 Keep my commands and live,[c]
and my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3 Bind them on your fingers,
write them on the tablet of your heart.(A)
4 Say to Wisdom, “You are my sister!”[d]
Call Understanding, “Friend!”
Footnotes
- 7:1–27
The third and climactic instruction on adultery and seduction is an example story, of the same type as the example story in 24:30–34. By its negative portrayal of the deceitful woman, who speaks in the night to a lone youth, it serves as a foil to trustworthy Wisdom in chap. 8, who speaks in broad daylight to all who pass in the street.
As in 6:20–24, the father warns his son to keep his teaching to protect him from the dangerous forbidden woman. The father’s language in 7:4 (“Say to Wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call Understanding ‘Friend’”) sets this admonition apart, however; it is the language of courtship and love. If the son makes Woman Wisdom his companion and lover, she will protect him from the other woman. As in chap. 5, loving the right woman protects the man from the wrong woman.
As motivation, the father in vv. 6–23 tells his son of an incident he once observed while looking out his window—a young man went to the bed of an adulterous woman and wound up dead. As in chap. 5, the realistic details—the purposeful woman, the silent youth, the vow, the perfumed bed—have a metaphorical level. Ultimately the story is about two different kinds of love.
- 7:1–3 Verses 1–3 are artistically constructed. “Keep” in v. 1a recurs in v. 2a; “commands” in v. 1b recurs in v. 2a; the imperative verb “live” occurs in the very center of the three lines; v. 3, on preserving the teaching upon one’s very person, matches vv. 1–2, on preserving the teaching internally by memorizing it.
- 7:2 Live: here as elsewhere (Gn 20:7; 42:18; 2 Kgs 18:32; Jer 27:12, 17; Ez 18:32), the imperative (“Live!”) is uttered against the danger of death, e.g., “Do such and such and you will live (= survive the danger); why should you die?”
- 7:4 You are my sister: “sister” and “brother” are examples of love language in the ancient Near East, occurring in Egyptian love poetry and Mesopotamian marriage songs. In Sg 4:9, 10, 12; 5:1, the man calls the woman, “my sister, my bride.” Intimate friendship with Woman Wisdom saves one from false and dangerous relationships.
Proverbs 8:15-16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
15 By me kings reign,
and rulers enact justice;
16 By me princes govern,
and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
Daniel 7:27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
27 Then the kingship and dominion and majesty
of all the kingdoms under the heavens
shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High,
Whose kingship shall be an everlasting kingship,
whom all dominions shall serve and obey.”
John 14:15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
The Advocate. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.(A)
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John 14:21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”(A)
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1 John 5:3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,(A)
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