Ezekiel 27 - 28, Titus, Proverbs 4 — Legacy Standard Bible

Lament over Tyre

27Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ²“Now as for you, son of man, ^atake up a lamentation over Tyre ³and say to Tyre, ^awho inhabits the ¹entrance to the sea, a ^btrader of the peoples to many coastlands, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’

⁴“Your borders are in the heart of the seas;Your builders have perfected your beauty.⁵“They have ¹made all your planks of fir trees from ^aSenir;They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.⁶“Of ^aoaks from ^bBashan they have made your oars;With ivory they have ¹inlaid your deck of boxwood from the coastlands of ^cCyprus.⁷“Your ¹sail was of fine embroidered linen from EgyptSo that it became your ²standard;Your ³awning was ⁴^,^ablue and purple from the coastlands of ^bElishah.⁸“The inhabitants of Sidon and ^aArvad were your rowers;Your ^bwise men, O Tyre, were ¹aboard; they were your pilots.⁹“The elders of ^aGebal and her wise men were with you repairing your seams;All the ships of the sea and their sailors were with you in order to deal in your merchandise.

¹⁰“^aPersia and ^bLud and ^cPut were in your military force, your men of war. They hung shield and helmet in you; they set forth your majesty. ¹¹“The sons of Arvad and your military force were on your walls, all around, and the ¹Gammadim were in your towers. They hung their small shields on your walls all around; they perfected your beauty.

¹²“Tarshish was your customer because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth; with silver, iron, tin, and lead they paid for your wares. ¹³“^aJavan, ^bTubal, and ^cMeshech, they were your traders; with the ^dlives of men and vessels of bronze they paid for your merchandise. ¹⁴“Those from ^aBeth-togarmah gave horses and war horses and mules for your wares. ¹⁵“The sons of ^aDedan were your traders. Many coastlands were ¹customers at your hand; ^bivory tusks and ebony they brought as your payment. ¹⁶“^aAram was your customer because of the abundance of your ¹goods; they paid for your wares with ^bemeralds, purple, ^cembroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies. ¹⁷“Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traders; with the wheat of ^aMinnith, ¹cakes, honey, oil, and balm they paid for your merchandise. ¹⁸“^aDamascus was your customer because of the abundance of your ¹goods, because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth, because of the wine of Helbon and white wool. ¹⁹“Also Vedan and Javan paid for your wares ¹from Uzal; wrought iron, cassia, and ²sweet cane were among your merchandise. ²⁰“^aDedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. ²¹“^aArabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were ¹customers at your hand for ^blambs, rams, and goats; for these, they were your customers. ²²“The traders of ^aSheba and Raamah, they traded with you; they paid for your wares with the best of all kinds of ^bspices and with all kinds of precious stones and gold. ²³“Haran, Canneh, ^aEden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. ²⁴“They traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of ¹blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of many colors and tightly wound cords, which were among your merchandise. ²⁵“The ^aships of Tarshish were ¹the carriers for your merchandise. And you were filled and were very ²gloriousIn the heart of the seas.

²⁶“Your rowers have brought youInto ^agreat waters;The ^beast wind has broken youIn the heart of the seas.²⁷“Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise,Your sailors and your pilots,Your repairers of seams, your dealers in merchandise,And all your men of war who are in you,With all your assembly that is in your midst,Will fall into the heart of the seasOn the day of your downfall.²⁸“At the sound of the cry of your pilotsThe pasture lands will ^ashake.²⁹“All who handle the oar,The ^asailors and all the pilots of the sea,Will come down from their ships;They will stand on the land,³⁰And they will ^amake their voice heard over youAnd will cry bitterly.They will ^bcast dust on their heads;They will ^cwallow in ashes.³¹“Also they will make themselves ^abald for youAnd ^bgird themselves with sackcloth;And they will ^cweep for you in bitterness of soulWith bitter mourning.³²“Moreover, in their wailing they will take up a ^alamentation for youAnd lament over you:‘Who is like Tyre,Like her who is silent in the midst of the sea?³³‘When your wares went out from the seas,You satisfied a great number of peoples;With the ^agreatness of your wealth and your merchandiseYou enriched the kings of earth.³⁴‘¹Now that you are ^abroken by the seasIn the depths of the waters,Your ^bmerchandise and all your assemblyHave fallen in the midst of you.³⁵‘All the ^ainhabitants of the coastlandsAre appalled at you,And their kings are horribly horrified;They are troubled in countenance.³⁶‘The merchants among the peoples ^ahiss at you;You have become ¹terrified,And you ^bwill cease to be forever.’”’”

Prophesy Against the King of Tyre

28The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, ²“Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because your heart is loftyAnd you have said, ‘^aI am a god;I sit enthroned in the seat of ¹godsIn the heart of the seas’;Yet you are a ^bman and not God,Although you make your heart like the heart of God—

³Behold, you are wiser than ^aDaniel;There is no secret that is a match for you.⁴“By your wisdom and understandingYou have acquired ^awealth for yourselfAnd have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.⁵“By your great wisdom, by your ^atradeYou have increased your wealth,And your ^bheart is lofty because of your wealth—

⁶Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have ^amade your heartLike the heart of God,

⁷Therefore, behold, I will bring ^astrangers upon you,The ^bmost ruthless of the nations.And they will draw their swordsAgainst the beauty of your wisdomAnd defile your splendor.⁸‘They will bring you down to the pit,And you will die the ^adeath of those who are slainIn the heart of the seas.⁹‘Will you still say, “I am a god,”In the presence of the one who kills you,Though you are a man and not God,In the hands of those who slay you?¹⁰‘You will die the death of the ^auncircumcisedBy the hand of strangers,For I have spoken!’ declares Lord Yahweh!”’”

Lament over the King of Tyre

¹¹Again the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ¹²“Son of man, ^atake up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “You ¹had the seal of perfection,Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

¹³“You were in ^aEden, the garden of God;^bEvery precious stone was your covering:The ^cruby, the topaz, and the diamond;The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper;The ¹lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald;And the gold, the workmanship of your ²^,^dsettings and ³sockets,Was in you.On the day that you were createdThey were prepared.¹⁴“You were the ^aanointed cherub who ¹covers,And I placed you there.You were on the holy ^bmountain of God;You walked in the midst of the ^cstones of fire.¹⁵“You were ^ablameless in your waysFrom the day you were createdUntil ^bunrighteousness was found in you.¹⁶“By the ^aabundance of your trade¹You were internally ^bfilled with violence,And you sinned;Therefore I have cast you as profaneFrom the mountain of God.And I have destroyed you, O ²covering cherub,From the midst of the stones of fire.¹⁷“Your heart was lofty because of your ^abeauty;You ^bcorrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.I cast you to the ground;I put you before ^ckings,That they may see you.¹⁸“By the abundance of your iniquities,In the unrighteousness of your tradeYou profaned your sanctuaries.Therefore I have brought out ^afire from the midst of you;It has consumed you,And I have turned you to ^bashes on the earthIn the eyes of all who see you.¹⁹“All who know you among the peoplesAre appalled at you;You have become ¹^,^aterrified,And you will cease to be ^bforever.”’”

Prophesy Against Sidon

²⁰And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ²¹“Son of man, ^aset your face toward ^bSidon, prophesy against her ²²and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am against you, O Sidon,And I will ¹be glorified in your midst.Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I ^aexecute judgments in her,And I will manifest My holiness in her.

²³“For ^aI will send pestilence to herAnd blood to her streets,And the ^bwounded will ¹fall in her midstBy the sword upon her on every side;Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

²⁴“And there will be no more for the house of Israel a ^aprickling brier or a painful thorn from any round about them who scorned them; then they will know that I am Lord Yahweh.”

Israel Regathered

²⁵‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “When I ^agather the house of Israel from the peoples, among whom they are scattered, and will manifest My holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they will ^blive in their ¹land which I gave to My servant Jacob. ²⁶“They will ^alive in it securely; and they will ^bbuild houses, plant vineyards, and live securely when I ^cexecute judgments upon all who scorn them all around them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh their God.”’”

Greetings and Grace

1Paul, ^aa slave of God and an ^bapostle of Jesus Christ, ¹for the faith of God’s ^celect and ^dthe full knowledge of the truth which is ^eaccording to godliness, ²in ^athe hope of eternal life, which the God ^bwho cannot lie ^cpromised ¹^,^dfrom all eternity, ³but ^aat the proper time manifested His word in ^bpreaching, ^cwith which I was entrusted ^daccording to the commandment of ^eGod our Savior,

⁴To ^aTitus, ^bmy genuine child according to our ^ccommon faith: ^dGrace and peace from God the Father and ^eChrist Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications of Elders

⁵For this reason I left you in ^aCrete, that you would set in order what remains and ^bappoint ^celders in every city as I directed you, ⁶namely, ^aif any man is beyond reproach, the ^bhusband of one wife, having faithful children, who are not accused of ^cdissipation, or ^drebellious. ⁷For the ¹^,^aoverseer must be beyond reproach as ^bGod’s steward, not ^cself-willed, not quick-tempered, not ^daddicted to wine, not pugnacious, ^enot fond of dishonest gain, ⁸but ^ahospitable, ^bloving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, ⁹^aholding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in ^bsound doctrine and to reprove those who contradict.

¹⁰^aFor there are many ^brebellious men, ^cempty talkers and deceivers, especially ^dthose of the circumcision, ¹¹who must be silenced because they are upsetting ^awhole families, teaching ^bthings they should not teach ^cfor the sake of dishonest gain. ¹²One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “^aCretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³This testimony is true. For this reason ^areprove them ^bseverely so that they may be ^csound in the faith, ¹⁴not paying attention to Jewish ^amyths and ^bcommandments of men who ^cturn away from the truth. ¹⁵^aTo the pure, all things are pure, but ^bto those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their ^cmind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶^aThey profess to know God, but by their works they ^bdeny Him, being ^cdetestable and ^ddisobedient and ^eunfit ^ffor any good work.

Instructions for the Older and Younger

2But as for you, speak the things which are proper for ^asound doctrine. ²^aOlder men are to be ^btemperate, dignified, sensible, ^csound ^din faith, in love, in ¹perseverance.

³Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, ^anot malicious gossips nor ^benslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, ⁴so that they may instruct the young women in sensibility: to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵to be sensible, pure, ^aworkers at home, kind, being ^bsubject to their own husbands, ^cso that the word of God will not be slandered.

⁶Likewise urge ^athe younger men to be ¹sensible; ⁷in all things show yourself to be ^aa model of good works, with ¹purity in doctrine, dignified, ⁸sound in word which is irreproachable, so ^athat the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

⁹Urge ^aslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be pleasing, not contradicting, ¹⁰not pilfering, but demonstrating all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of ^aGod our Savior in everything.

¹¹For the grace of God has ^aappeared, ¹^,^bbringing salvation to all men, ¹²¹instructing us that, denying ungodliness and ^aworldly desires, we should ^blive sensibly, righteously, and godly ^cin the present age, ¹³looking for the blessed hope and the ^aappearing of the glory of ¹^,^bour great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who ^agave Himself for us ^bthat He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and ^cpurify for Himself a ^dpeople for His own possession, ^ezealous for good works.

¹⁵These things speak and ^aexhort and ^breprove with all ¹authority. ^cLet no one disregard you.

Be Ready for Every Good Work

3^aRemind them ^bto be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ^cready for every good work, ²to slander no one, ^ato be peaceable, ^bconsiderate, ^cdemonstrating all gentleness to all men. ³^aFor we ourselves also once were foolish, ^bdisobedient, ^cdeceived, ^denslaved to ^evarious lusts and pleasures, spending our life in ^fmalice and ^genvy, despicable, hating one another. ⁴But when the ^akindness and affection of ^bGod our Savior ^cappeared, ⁵^aHe saved us, ^bnot by works which we did in righteousness, but ^caccording to His mercy, through the ^dwashing of regeneration and ^erenewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶^awhom He poured out upon us ^brichly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that having been justified by His grace, we would become ^aheirs ¹according to the hope of eternal life. ⁸^aThis is a trustworthy saying. And concerning these things I ^bwant you to speak confidently, so that those who have ^cbelieved God will be intent to ^dlead in good works. These things are good and profitable for men. ⁹But ^aavoid ^bfoolish controversies and ^cgenealogies and strife and ^dconflicts about the Law, for they are ^eunprofitable and worthless. ¹⁰^aReject a ^bfactious man ^cafter a first and second warning, ¹¹knowing that such a man is ^aperverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.

Personal Instructions and Greetings

¹²When I send Artemas or ^aTychicus to you, ^bbe diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to ^cspend the winter there. ¹³Diligently help send Zenas the ^alawyer and ^bApollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. ¹⁴^aAnd our people must also learn to ^blead in good ¹works to meet ^cpressing needs, so that they will not be ^dunfruitful.

¹⁵^aAll who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us ^bin the faith. ^cGrace be with you all.

A Father’s Wise Instruction

4Hear, O sons, the ^adiscipline of a father,And ^bpay attention that you may know understanding,²For I give you ¹sound ^alearning;^bDo not forsake my ²instruction.³When I was a son to my father,^aTender and ^bthe only son before my mother,⁴Then he ^ainstructed me and said to me,“Let your heart ^bhold fast my words;^cKeep my commandments and live;⁵^aAcquire wisdom! ^bAcquire understanding!Do not forget and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.⁶“Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;^aLove her, and she will guard you.⁷“¹^,^aThe beginning of wisdom is: ^bAcquire wisdom;And with all your acquiring, acquire understanding.⁸“^aPrize her, and she will exalt you;She will honor you if you embrace her.⁹“She will give ^afor your head a garland of grace;She will present you with a crown of beauty.”¹⁰Hear, my son, and ^areceive my sayingsAnd the ^byears of your life will be many.¹¹I have ^ainstructed you in the way of wisdom;I have led you in upright tracks.¹²When you walk, your ^asteps will not be impeded;And if you run, you ^bwill not stumble.¹³^aSeize discipline; do not let go.Guard her, for she is your ^blife.¹⁴^aDo not enter the path of wicked menAnd do not step into the way of evil men.¹⁵Avoid it, do not pass by it;^aStray from it and pass on.¹⁶For they ^ado not sleep unless they do evil;And ¹they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.¹⁷For they ^aeat the bread of wickednessAnd drink the wine of violence.¹⁸But the ^apath of the righteous is like the ^blight of dawn,That ^cshines brighter and brighter until the ^dfullness of day.¹⁹The ^away of the wicked is like thick darkness;They do not know over what they ¹^,^bstumble.²⁰My son, ^apay attention to my words;^bIncline your ear to my sayings.²¹^aDo not let them deviate from your eyes;^bKeep them in the midst of your heart.²²For they are ^alife to those who find themAnd ^bhealing to all his flesh.²³Guard your heart with all diligence,For ^afrom it flow the springs of life.²⁴Put away from you a ^aperverse mouthAnd ^bput devious lips far from you.²⁵Let your eyes look directly aheadAnd even let your eyelids be fixed straight in front of you.²⁶^aWatch the track of your feetAnd all your ^bways will be established.²⁷^aDo not turn to the right nor to the left;^bTurn your foot from evil.