Proverbs 1:20-33 (Vespers, 2nd Reading)
20 |
Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. |
21 |
She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: |
22 |
“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge. |
23 |
Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. |
24 |
Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, |
25 |
Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, |
26 |
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, |
27 |
When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon 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 did not choose the fear of the Lord, |
30 |
They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. |
31 |
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies. |
32 |
For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them; |
33 |
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil.” |