Bible in a Year – read today’s “Bible in a Year” excerpt

This page updates daily, based on the Whole Bible Canonically in a Year Bible reading plan.

reading plan entry for July 5

Proverbs 1 ()

[1] The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:
[2] to know wisdom and instruction;
to discern the words of understanding;
[3] to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
[4] to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young man—
[5] that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning;
that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel;
[6] to understand a proverb and parables,
the words and riddles of the wise.

[7] The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge,
but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
[8] My son, listen to your father’s instruction,
and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching;
[9] for they will be a garland to grace your head,
and chains around your neck.
[10] My son, if sinners entice you,
don’t consent.
[11] If they say, “Come with us.
Let’s lie in wait for blood.
Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
[12] Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol,
and whole, like those who go down into the pit.
[13] We’ll find all valuable wealth.
We’ll fill our houses with plunder.
[14] You shall cast your lot among us.
We’ll all have one purse”—
[15] my son, don’t walk on the path with them.
Keep your foot from their path,
[16] for their feet run to evil.
They hurry to shed blood.
[17] For the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird;
[18] but these lay in wait for their own blood.
They lurk secretly for their own lives.
[19] So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain.
It takes away the life of its owners.

[20] Wisdom calls aloud in the street.
She utters her voice in the public squares.
[21] She calls at the head of noisy places.
At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:
[22] “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery,
and fools hate knowledge?
[23] Turn at my reproof.
Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you.
I will make known my words to you.
[24] Because I have called, and you have refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;
[25] but you have ignored all my counsel,
and wanted none of my reproof;
[26] I also will laugh at your disaster.
I will mock when calamity overtakes you,
[27] when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come on you.
[28] Then they will call on me, but I will not answer.
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me,
[29] because they hated knowledge,
and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
[30] They wanted none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof.
[31] Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way,
and be filled with their own schemes.
[32] For the backsliding of the simple will kill them.
The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
[33] But whoever listens to me will dwell securely,
and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Proverbs 1:7 “Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “Lord” (all caps) in other translations.
Proverbs 1:12 Sheol is the place of the dead.
Proverbs 1:23 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.

Proverbs 2 ()

[1] My son, if you will receive my words,
and store up my commandments within you,
[2] so as to turn your ear to wisdom,
and apply your heart to understanding;
[3] yes, if you call out for discernment,
and lift up your voice for understanding;
[4] if you seek her as silver,
and search for her as for hidden treasures;
[5] then you will understand the fear of Yahweh,
and find the knowledge of God.
[6] For Yahweh gives wisdom.
Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
[7] He lays up sound wisdom for the upright.
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
[8] that he may guard the paths of justice,
and preserve the way of his saints.
[9] Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
equity and every good path.
[10] For wisdom will enter into your heart.
Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
[11] Discretion will watch over you.
Understanding will keep you,
[12] to deliver you from the way of evil,
from the men who speak perverse things,
[13] who forsake the paths of uprightness,
to walk in the ways of darkness,
[14] who rejoice to do evil,
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
[15] who are crooked in their ways,
and wayward in their paths,
[16] to deliver you from the strange woman,
even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,
[17] who forsakes the friend of her youth,
and forgets the covenant of her God;
[18] for her house leads down to death,
her paths to the departed spirits.
[19] None who go to her return again,
neither do they attain to the paths of life.
[20] Therefore walk in the way of good men,
and keep the paths of the righteous.
[21] For the upright will dwell in the land.
The perfect will remain in it.
[22] But the wicked will be cut off from the land.
The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 2:5 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).

Proverbs 3 ()

[1] My son, don’t forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
[2] for they will add to you length of days,
years of life, and peace.
[3] Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you.
Bind them around your neck.
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
[4] So you will find favor,
and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
[5] Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,
and don’t lean on your own understanding.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
[7] Don’t be wise in your own eyes.
Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
[8] It will be health to your body,
and nourishment to your bones.
[9] Honor Yahweh with your substance,
with the first fruits of all your increase;
[10] so your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will overflow with new wine.
[11] My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline,
neither be weary of his correction;
[12] for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects,
even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

[13] Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gets understanding.
[14] For her good profit is better than getting silver,
and her return is better than fine gold.
[15] She is more precious than rubies.
None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.
[16] Length of days is in her right hand.
In her left hand are riches and honor.
[17] Her ways are ways of pleasantness.
All her paths are peace.
[18] She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.
Happy is everyone who retains her.
[19] By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.
By understanding, he established the heavens.
[20] By his knowledge, the depths were broken up,
and the skies drop down the dew.
[21] My son, let them not depart from your eyes.
Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
[22] so they will be life to your soul,
and grace for your neck.
[23] Then you shall walk in your way securely.
Your foot won’t stumble.
[24] When you lie down, you will not be afraid.
Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.
[25] Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,
neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes;
[26] for Yahweh will be your confidence,
and will keep your foot from being taken.

[27] Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in the power of your hand to do it.
[28] Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again;
tomorrow I will give it to you,”
when you have it by you.
[29] Don’t devise evil against your neighbor,
since he dwells securely by you.
[30] Don’t strive with a man without cause,
if he has done you no harm.
[31] Don’t envy the man of violence.
Choose none of his ways.
[32] For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh,
but his friendship is with the upright.
[33] Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.
[34] Surely he mocks the mockers,
but he gives grace to the humble.
[35] The wise will inherit glory,
but shame will be the promotion of fools.

Proverbs 4 ()

[1] Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction.
Pay attention and know understanding;
[2] for I give you sound learning.
Don’t forsake my law.
[3] For I was a son to my father,
tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.
[4] He taught me, and said to me:
“Let your heart retain my words.
Keep my commandments, and live.
[5] Get wisdom.
Get understanding.
Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
[6] Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you.
Love her, and she will keep you.
[7] Wisdom is supreme.
Get wisdom.
Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
[8] Esteem her, and she will exalt you.
She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
[9] She will give to your head a garland of grace.
She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”

[10] Listen, my son, and receive my sayings.
The years of your life will be many.
[11] I have taught you in the way of wisdom.
I have led you in straight paths.
[12] When you go, your steps will not be hampered.
When you run, you will not stumble.
[13] Take firm hold of instruction.
Don’t let her go.
Keep her, for she is your life.
[14] Don’t enter into the path of the wicked.
Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
[15] Avoid it, and don’t pass by it.
Turn from it, and pass on.
[16] For they don’t sleep unless they do evil.
Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
[17] For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
[18] But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light
that shines more and more until the perfect day.
[19] The way of the wicked is like darkness.
They don’t know what they stumble over.

[20] My son, attend to my words.
Turn your ear to my sayings.
[21] Let them not depart from your eyes.
Keep them in the center of your heart.
[22] For they are life to those who find them,
and health to their whole body.
[23] Keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of it is the wellspring of life.
[24] Put away from yourself a perverse mouth.
Put corrupt lips far from you.
[25] Let your eyes look straight ahead.
Fix your gaze directly before you.
[26] Make the path of your feet level.
Let all of your ways be established.
[27] Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left.
Remove your foot from evil.

Proverbs 5 ()

[1] My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Turn your ear to my understanding,
[2] that you may maintain discretion,
that your lips may preserve knowledge.
[3] For the lips of an adulteress drip honey.
Her mouth is smoother than oil,
[4] but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
[5] Her feet go down to death.
Her steps lead straight to Sheol.
[6] She gives no thought to the way of life.
Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.

[7] Now therefore, my sons, listen to me.
Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
[8] Remove your way far from her.
Don’t come near the door of her house,
[9] lest you give your honor to others,
and your years to the cruel one;
[10] lest strangers feast on your wealth,
and your labors enrich another man’s house.
[11] You will groan at your latter end,
when your flesh and your body are consumed,
[12] and say, “How I have hated instruction,
and my heart despised reproof.
[13] I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers,
nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
[14] I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
among the gathered assembly.”

[15] Drink water out of your own cistern,
running water out of your own well.
[16] Should your springs overflow in the streets,
streams of water in the public squares?
[17] Let them be for yourself alone,
not for strangers with you.
[18] Let your spring be blessed.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
[19] A loving doe and a graceful deer—
let her breasts satisfy you at all times.
Be captivated always with her love.
[20] For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another?
[21] For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes.
He examines all his paths.
[22] The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him.
The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
[23] He will die for lack of instruction.
In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

Proverbs 5:5 Sheol is the place of the dead.