Proverbs | January 12, 2025

 

+ Read Scripture

Proverbs 1

8 Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, 9 for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11 If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse"-- 15 my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, 16 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

Talk Sheet Questions

  1. If you were to appeal to a teenager who was in danger of falling in the with wrong crowd, would you appeal to his parents’ instruction? (8-9) Why or why not?

  2. What arguments does he give that the parents’ instruction will be better than the spoil of the friends? (9-13)

  3. Describe the irony in the repetition of words in verses 11 and 18.

  4. What are some things that might cause a young person to fall in with friends like those described in verses 10-18?

  5. This seems like an abrupt start to the whole book. What are your thoughts about why this is the first real instruction in the book?

Prayer

Pray that we would make good choices and choose good companions!

 
Scott Reavely