Reading for February 5th

Read Proverbs 17.1-28. In verse 2: Wisdom surrounts natural boundaries and limits. Slaves of the time could enter a great household and their conduct, if prudent and trustworthy, would win everyone's respect. A perversely foolish child could lose out to such wise servants. In verse 8: A neutral observation on money. A bribe can seem like a magic stone since it opens doors hiterto closed. In verse 9: A paradox: One finds friendship if one loses or hides (forgives) an affront, and loses (alienates) a friend if one finds or makes public (dwells on) disputes. Friendship has a price-bearing with the faults of the other. In verse 13: Paradoxically, evil stays in the house of anyone who tries to inflict it on others. In verse 19: Whoever loves an offense in the sense of dwelling on it is equivalently asking for a quarrel in the same way that any one who builds an overly high threshold is asking for injury. Comments or Questions..