Thursday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, 2Verse 2. for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, 3Verse 3. and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. 4Verse 4. To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, 5Verse 5. let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel 6Verse 6. by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7Verse 7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. 8Verse 8. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. 9Verse 9. For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck. 10Verse 10. My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them. 11Verse 11. If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, 12Verse 12. let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. 13Verse 13. We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder. 14Verse 14. Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse” — 15Verse 15. my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path. 16Verse 16. For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood. 17Verse 17. How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it! 18Verse 18. But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. 19Verse 19. Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

27Verse 27. Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire. 28Verse 28. His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray. 29Verse 29. You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. 30Verse 30. And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones. 31Verse 31. For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter. 32Verse 32. And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished. 33Verse 33. For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.