Day 188 of 365

¹ O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

² For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

³ There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

⁴ For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

⁵ My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

⁶ I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

⁷ For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸ I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

⁹ Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

¹⁰ My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.

¹¹ My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.

¹² They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

¹³ But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

¹⁴ Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

¹⁵ For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.

¹⁶ For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

¹⁷ For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.

¹⁸ For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

¹⁹ But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

²⁰ They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

²¹ Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.

²² Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

¹ My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

² So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

³ Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

⁴ If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

⁵ Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶ For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

⁷ He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

⁸ He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

⁹ Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

¹⁰ When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

¹¹ Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

¹² To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

¹³ Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴ Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

¹⁶ To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

¹⁷ Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

¹⁸ For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹ For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

²² But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.