Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty.

Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left.

Even the most refined woman of noble birth, so rich that she has never had to walk anywhere, will behave in the same way. When the enemy besieges her town, she will become so desperate for food that she will secretly eat her newborn child and the afterbirth as well. She will not share them with the husband she loves or with any of her children.

Saul did not like this, and he became very angry. He said, "For David they claim tens of thousands, but only thousands for me. They will be making him king next!"

And so he was jealous and suspicious of David from that day on.

Don't eat at the table of a stingy person or be greedy for the fine food he serves.

Selfish people are in such a hurry to get rich that they do not know when poverty is about to strike.

Don't I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?' "

But Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the LORD had done for him, and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it.

Finally, however, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem humbled themselves, and so the LORD did not punish the people until after Hezekiah's death.

and even when the Babylonian ambassadors came to inquire about the unusual event that had happened in the land, God let Hezekiah go his own way only in order to test his character.

The wicked do not care about the LORD; in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.

Your pride has deceived you. Your capital is a fortress of solid rock; your home is high in the mountains, and so you say to yourself, 'Who can ever pull me down?'

Even though you make your home as high as an eagle's nest, so that it seems to be among the stars, yet I will pull you down.

we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

In the same way you younger people must submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, "God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble."

Smart people keep quiet about what they know, but stupid people advertise their ignorance.

Children just naturally do silly, careless things, but a good spanking will teach them how to behave.

Any scheme a fool thinks up is sinful. People hate a person who has nothing but scorn for others.

Even if you beat fools half to death, you still can't beat their foolishness out of them.

But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.

For God wants you to silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good things you do.