1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
so honor is not fitting for a fool.
2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow,
so a curse without cause does not come to rest.
3 A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the backs of fools!
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
lest you yourself also be like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own opinion.
6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence,
so is sending a message by the hand of a fool.
7 Like legs dangle uselessly from the lame,
so a proverb dangles in the mouth of fools.
8 Like tying a stone in a sling,
so is giving honor to a fool.
9 Like a thorn has gone up into the hand of a drunkard,
so a proverb has gone up into the mouth of a fool.
10 Like an archer who wounds at random,
so is the one who hires a fool or hires any passerby.
11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his folly.
12 You have seen a man wise in his own opinion—
there is more hope for a fool than for him.
13 The sluggard has said, “There is a lion in the road!
A lion in the streets!”
14 Like a door that turns on its hinges,
so a sluggard turns on his bed.
15 The sluggard has plunged his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own opinion
than seven people who respond with good sense.
17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears,
so is the person passing by who becomes furious over a quarrel not his own.
18 Like a madman who shoots
firebrands and deadly arrows,
19 so is a person who has deceived his neighbor,
and said, “Was I not only joking?”
20 Where there is no wood, a fire goes out,
and where there is no gossip, contention ceases.
21 Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,
so is a contentious person to kindle strife.
22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
and they have gone down into a person’s innermost being.
23 Like a coating of glaze over earthenware
are fervent lips with an evil heart.
24 The one who hates others disguises it with his lips,
but he stores up deceit within him.
25 When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,
for there are seven abominations within him.
26 Though his hatred may be concealed by deceit,
his evil will be uncovered in the assembly.
27 The one who digs a pit will fall into it;
the one who rolls a stone—it will come back on him.
28 A lying tongue hates those crushed by it,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.
1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” 4 But what was the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself 7,000 people who have not bent the knee to Baal.”
5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,
and make their backs bend continually.”
11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring?
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.
17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root, 18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God—harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And even they—if they do not continue in their unbelief—will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion;
he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.”
28 In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how unfathomable his ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?
35 Or who has first given to God,
that God needs to repay him?
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.
Download & Print