The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 (A)“If anyone comes to me and (B)does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, (C)yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 (D)Whoever does not (E)bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not (F)first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not (G)sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 (H)So therefore, any one of you who (I)does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

34 (J)“Salt is good, (K)but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. (L)He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

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Practical Warnings

My son, if you have put up (A)security for your neighbor,
    have (B)given your pledge for a stranger,
if you are (C)snared in the words of your mouth,
    caught in the words of your mouth,
then do this, my son, and save yourself,
    for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
    go, hasten,[a] and (D)plead urgently with your neighbor.
(E)Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;
save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[b]
    (F)like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

(G)Go to (H)the ant, O (I)sluggard;
    consider her ways, and (J)be wise.
(K)Without having any chief,
    (L)officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread (M)in summer
    and (N)gathers her food in harvest.
(O)How long will you lie there, (P)O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
10 (Q)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    (R)a little (S)folding of the hands to rest,
11 (T)and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

12 (U)A worthless person, a wicked man,
    goes about with (V)crooked speech,
13 (W)winks with his eyes, signals[c] with his feet,
    points with his finger,
14 with (X)perverted heart (Y)devises evil,
    continually (Z)sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
    (AA)in a moment he will be broken (AB)beyond healing.

16 There are (AC)six things that the Lord hates,
    (AD)seven that are an abomination to him:
17 (AE)haughty eyes, (AF)a lying tongue,
    and (AG)hands that shed innocent blood,
18 (AH)a heart that devises wicked plans,
    (AI)feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 (AJ)a false witness who (AK)breathes out lies,
    and one who (AL)sows discord among brothers.

Warnings Against Adultery

20 (AM)My son, keep your father's commandment,
    (AN)and forsake not your mother's teaching.
21 (AO)Bind them on your heart always;
    (AP)tie them around your neck.
22 (AQ)When you walk, they[d] will lead you;
    (AR)when you lie down, they will (AS)watch over you;
    and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23 For the commandment is (AT)a lamp and the teaching a light,
    and the (AU)reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24 to preserve you from the evil woman,[e]
    from the smooth tongue of (AV)the adulteress.[f]
25 (AW)Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
    and do not let her capture you with her (AX)eyelashes;
26 for (AY)the price of a prostitute is only (AZ)a loaf of bread,[g]
    but a married woman[h] (BA)hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry (BB)fire next to his (BC)chest
    and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one (BD)walk on hot coals
    and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
    none who touches her (BE)will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to (BF)satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but (BG)if he is caught, he will pay (BH)sevenfold;
    he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
    he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor,
    and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For (BI)jealousy makes a man furious,
    and he will not spare when (BJ)he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation;
    he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or humble yourself
  2. Proverbs 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter
  3. Proverbs 6:13 Hebrew scrapes
  4. Proverbs 6:22 Hebrew it; three times in this verse
  5. Proverbs 6:24 Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
  6. Proverbs 6:24 Hebrew the foreign woman
  7. Proverbs 6:26 Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
  8. Proverbs 6:26 Hebrew a man's wife

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