Brain Outdo Muscle IV

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

29

19-20 Don’t bother your head with braggarts

    or wish you could succeed like the wicked.

Those people have no future at all;

    they’re headed down a dead-end street.

30

21-22 Fear God, dear child—respect your leaders;

    don’t be defiant or mutinous.

Without warning, your life can turn upside down,

    and who knows how or when it might happen?

More Sayings of the Wise

An Honest Answer

23 It’s wrong, very wrong,

    to go along with injustice.

24-25 Whoever whitewashes the wicked

    gets a black mark in the history books,

But whoever exposes the wicked

    will be thanked and rewarded.

-Proverbs 24:19-25 The Message

19 Fret not yourself because of evildoers,

    and be not envious of the wicked,

20 for the evil man has no future;

    the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

21 My son, fear the Lord and the king,

    and do not join with those who do otherwise,

22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them,

    and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

More Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise.

Partiality in judging is not good.

24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,”

    will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,

25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,

    and a good blessing will come upon them.

-Proverbs 24:19-25 ESV

Verse 19 study: Do not fret; don’t become agitated or vexed.

Verse 20 study: Future; these wicked people have no future or hope.

Verses 21-22 studies: Revolution against God or government is dangerous as both are powerful.

Verse 21 study: Fear of the Lord; Israel’s covenant-based society, the king became the model of wisdom and the representative of God’s rule.

Verse 22 study: The ruin; who knows the devastation those two can bring? The righteous retribution from God and the king.

Verse 23-25 studies: Justice is crucial. A well-ordered society is one in which justice can be done and seen. It complements the directive given.