Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come as one that travels, and your want as an armed man.
The above, Proverbs 6:10 & 11, is speaking to those who continue on the same path (travel) unaware (sleeping) it’s leading them into losing all (freedom and prosperity) to those in who they’ve ignorantly put their trust. The “want” (machcowr) is oppression and poverty (without God’s treasures), which comes from a lack of diligence. The word rendered “armed” is magen, meaning “a shield (i.e. the small one or buckler); figuratively, a protector.”
Proverbs 30
4 Who has ascended up into heaven [into full understanding in the LORD’s presence], or descended [and given His word on earth, freely as received]? who has gathered the wind [the Spirit of God] in his fists [joined Him in the battle]? who has bound the waters [the word of God] in a garment [covering as His word made flesh]? who has established all the ends of the earth [the end of the old and beginning the new]? what is his name [His name is Jehovah], and what is his son’s name [my name is Timothy, Jehovah’s Salvation, Jesus, His ONE BODY], if you can tell [yada’ – if you know, you should make it known]?
5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield [magen – protector] unto them that put their trust in him.
6 Add you not unto his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.
Proverbs 2
6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler [magen] to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keeps the paths [‘orach] of judgment, and preserves the way [derek] of his saints.
9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:
12 To deliver you from the way [derek] of the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things [twisted and perverted truth];
13 Who leave the paths [‘orach] of uprightness, to walk in the ways [derek] of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths [‘orach]:
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flatters with her words;
17 Which forsake the guide of her youth, and forget the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths [‘orach] of life.
20 That you mayest walk in the way [derek] of good men, and keep the paths [‘orach] of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Proverbs 11
23 The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
24 There is that scatters [the wicked], and yet increases; and there is that withholds [this word of God] more than is meet [right], but it tends to poverty [machcowr].
25 The liberal soul [who gives the word freely] shall be made fat [prosperous]: and he that waters shall be watered also himself [He that freely gives this word shall receive even more].
26 He that withholds corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that sells it [shabar – sell without price, see Isaiah 55:1 below].
27 He that diligently seeks good procures favor: but he that seeks mischief, it shall come unto him.
28 He that trusts in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
29 He that troubles his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.
31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed [justly rewarded] in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.
Isaiah 55
1 Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy [shabar], and eat; yea, come, buy [shabar] wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader [nagiyd – chief] and commander to the people.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you shall run unto you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.
6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way [derek], and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways [derek] my ways [derek], says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways [derek] higher than your ways [derek], and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees [the upright] of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn [misleaders] shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier [deceivers] shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Revelation 19
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And LORD Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
The “blessing” on the head, mentioned in Proverbs 11:26 above, is the word brakah and refers to its appearing in Genesis 49.
22 Joseph [Jehovah has continued – as a son, {Ephraim}] is a fruitful bough [parah ben – fruit as offspring, progeny], even a fruitful bough [parah ben] by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob; (from thence [then and there] is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings [brakah] of heaven above, blessings [brakah] of the deep that lies under, blessings [brakah] of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings [brakah] of your father have prevailed [gabar] above the blessings [brakah] of my progenitors [of all those who have come before me] unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills [the end of the age, world without end]: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him [Shiloh – the shepherd and stone] that was separate from his brethren.
The word rendered “diligently,” in Proverbs 11:27 above, is the twelve times used Hebrew word shachar (7836), meaning “to dawn, i.e. (figuratively) be (up) early at any task (with the implication of earnestness); by extension, to search for (with painstaking).”
It (shachar) first appears, in Job 7:21, as Job, representing God’s hated people in their long “deep sleep,” speaks of the LORD diligently seeking him, now in the morning. He is asking why the LORD hasn’t taken away His iniquity or raised him to life from hell.
Friends, the answer is as we have often discussed; meant to be just as it is: the long trial in the furnace of the earth, that draws out the errors and misleading of men who aren’t led by God. It proves men, left to their own ways, without God’s leading through His One trusted voice, devolve into ignorance and hell. It is to end this trial I Am sent, as king of the world, to rule God’s kingdom in this new heaven and earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
Those who’ve ruled the old world into ruin, are now as Job’s three friends, drawn out into the open, uncovered by LORD speaking, in me, the least among His flock. I am the One good shepherd and stone, in who He has first risen to life from death and hell, and by His One voice, sent to raise His many children into His glory (ONE BODY).
The question is, when will you awaken and how long must He shake heaven and earth?
Romans 13
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night [the time of ignorance and sleep] is far spent, the [new] day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness [ignorance], and let us put on the armor of light [the protection of understanding].
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness [not without self-control from minds altered into ignorance by the erroneous information you’ve consumed], not in chambering and wantonness [not joining with those who use your lust for material things as the means to draw you into communism], not in strife and envying.
14 But put you on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Hebrews 1
8 But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
10 And, You, LORD, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands:
11 They shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment;
12 And as a vesture shall you fold them up, and they shall be changed: but you are the same, and your years shall not fail.
13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Hebrews 2
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man that you visit him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands:
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.
Hebrews 12
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven [full understanding in the presence of God]:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 13
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
6 So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Job 7
1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of a hireling [that seeks a reward, wages, at the end of his day]?
2 As a servant earnestly desires the shadow, and as a hireling look for the reward of his work:
3 So am I made to possess months of vanity [that have no worth and are due no reward], and wearisome nights [when man sleeps in ignorance] are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night [the time of man’s ignorance] be gone? and I am full of tossing to and fro [in agitation: tribulation] unto the dawning of the [new] day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome [all humanity in danger of destruction in the tribulation].
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good [the LORD’s good leading].
8 The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more: your eyes are upon me, and I am not [God’s people, with all humanity, fallen into ignorance and spiritual death].
9 As the cloud [the place of understanding] is consumed and vanish away [and there is no water, God’s word, from heaven ]: so he that goes down to the grave [sheol – hell] shall come up no more.
10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea [yes – you are all humanity in death], or a whale [in the belly of hell], that you set a watch over me [keeping us from leaving]?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me [as you sleep], my couch shall ease my complaints;
14 Then you scare me with dreams [the things created by the evil minds of the dead], and terrify me through visions:
15 So that my soul choose strangling, and death rather than my life [in ignorance, not knowing these men’s creations are as their hands on humanity’s neck, and they choose to follow them instead of diligently seeking God where He is found].
16 I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17 What is man, that you shouldest magnify him? and that you shouldest set your heart upon him?
18 And that you shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? [As in Hebrews 2:6 thru 8 above, again saying, “But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man that you visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands: You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.”]
19 How long will you not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle [swallow down your own words – which is the problem]?
20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men? why have you set me as a mark [the target of your attack] against you, so that I am a burden [your own words, ideas, and ways are the unbearable burden] to myself?
21 And why do you not pardon [nasa’ – why doesn’t God raise you from your hell] my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust [in death, in hell, in the ruin the earth has become]; and you shall seek me in the morning [shachar – the LORD is here diligently seeking by the shining of His new day, giving His light, understanding that is life from the dead], but I shall not be [but when will you awaken from your sleep].
In the following chapter, Bildad the Shuhite (names meaning “confusing love” and “wealth”) tells what he knows of God’s way, while ignorantly missing he is one of the hypocrites drawn out by God. The prosperity he (Bildad) ignorantly speaks of is God’s love, the reward He gives when the work is done, given to those who love as He loves, freely giving His understanding as He gave.
Job 8
2 How long will you speak these things? and how long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
3 Does God pervert judgment? or does the Almighty pervert justice?
4 If your children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
5 If you would seek [shachar – diligently] unto God betimes, and make your supplication to the Almighty;
6 If you wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end should greatly increase [as it does when God’s work, correction, is complete, and he sees God].
8 For enquire, I pray you, of the former age, and prepare yourself to the search of their fathers:
9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow [blocking the light]:)
10 Shall not they teach you, and tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
Job 24
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks [the thing learned of old, by those who diligently sought and found God]; they [those whose shadow, in this way, blocks understanding God] violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way [derek]: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert [God’s scattered and lowly people], go they forth to their work; rising [shachar – diligently seeking] betimes for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God lays not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light [understanding]; they know not the ways [derek] thereof, nor abide in the paths [nathiyb] thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light [when understanding comes] kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief [by his ignorance blocking the light].
15 The eye also of the adulterer [who follow other men instead of God] waits for the twilight [for ignorance to come], saying, No eye shall see me: and [the deceiver] disguises his face.
16 In the dark [when men are made ignorant] they dig through houses, which they had marked [targeted] for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For the morning [when understanding comes] is to them [the deceivers] even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they [realize they] are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift as the waters [using His words to continue and cover His deception]; their portion is cursed in the earth: he behold not the way [derek] of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat [of the deceivers’ fires] consume the snow waters [the word of God reserved in heaven, when it is sent to expose them]: so does the grave [sheol – hell] those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him [they will not be born again]; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree [that is dead and bears no fruit].
21 He evil entreats the barren that bears not: and does not good to the widow.
22 He draws also the mighty with his power [to deceive]: he rises up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him [through understanding] to be in safety, whereon he [Shiloh] rests; yet his eyes are upon their ways [derek – exposing them, that they are not the ways of God].
24 They [the misleaders who oppose God messenger] are exalted [by deception] for a little while, but are gone [taken away] and brought low; they [who hold you down] are taken out of the way as all other [except God’s messenger], and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Hosea 5
1 Hear you this, O priests; and hearken, you house of Israel; and give you ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah [watchtower – not seeing what was coming, while warning of things that did, causing the desolation of God’s people and the world], and a net spread upon Tabor [the people you’ve broken].
2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
3 I know Ephraim [God’s people in this broken generation], and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, you committest whoredom [have followed other men who put themselves in God’s place], and Israel is defiled.
4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
5 And the pride [ga’own – swelling pride] of Israel does testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
8 Blow you the cornet [showphar – trumpets] in Gibeah [the high places], and the trumpet in Ramah [in the places where the betrayed the LORD]: cry aloud at Bethaven [the houses become worthless and trubled: in tribulation], after you, O Benjamin [who should be, but left, God’s right hand].
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10 The princes of Judah [the misleader you now follow] were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment [of men].
12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian [communists], and sent to king Jareb [their misleader now at war with God]: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early [shachar – diligently].
Jeremiah 49
19 Behold, he [the LORD] shall come up like a lion from the swelling [ga’own – pride] of Jordan [against the words of men, which have carried all the world in a descent into death] against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him [the strong in power] run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint [paqad – as king, when I visit in this appointed time] over her? for who is like me [Michael, who now stands]? and who will appoint [ya’ad – join with] me [in this] the time? and who is that [good] shepherd that will stand before me?
20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom [the enemies mixed among us destroying us, while claiming they are our brothers and at peace with us]; and his purposes [to join the war against], that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman [against their so-called wise men, who are ignorant evil misleaders]: Surely [I Am] the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
21 The earth is moved at the noise [qowl – My voice, this report, sound doctrine, and rumor] of their fall, at the cry the noise [qowl – My words, as the sword of the LORD, and the waters as a consuming fire from heaven] thereof was heard in the Red sea [when the waters covered the oppressors who continued pursuing us, seeking to destroy us].
Hosea 6
1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us [quicken our dead flesh to life]: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning [the understanding of this new day]; and he shall come unto us as the rain [His word sent from heaven], as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto you? O Judah, what shall I do unto you? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and your judgments are as the light [understanding] that goes forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
Proverbs 1
22 How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But you have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes;
27 When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early [shachar – diligently], but they shall not find me [because they, as Esau, sold their birthright for one morsel of meat – see Hebrew 12:15 thru 17 and 13:9 below]:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way [derek], and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearken unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Hebrews 12
14 Follow peace [Shiloh] with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Hebrews 13
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that [as Esau] have been occupied therein.
The word “diligently,” above in Hebrews 12:15, is from the Greek word episkopeo, meaning “to oversee; by implication, to beware.” It only appears one other time, in 1 Peter 5:2, where it is rendered “taking the oversight.”
2 Peter 5
1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight [episkopeo] thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away.
Proverbs 8
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O you simple, understand wisdom: and, you fools, be you of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way [derek], and the froward mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early [shachar – diligently] shall find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way [‘orach] of righteousness, in the midst of the paths [nathiyb] of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
Isaiah 26
1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open you the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.
4 Trust you in the LORD forever: for in the LORD Jehovah is everlasting strength:
5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he lays it low; he lays it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
7 The way of the just is uprightness: you, most upright, do weigh the path of the just.
8 Yea, in the way [‘orach] of your judgments, O LORD, have we waited for you; the desire of our soul is to your name, and to the remembrance of you.
9 With my soul have I desired you in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek you early [shachar – diligently]: for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
11 LORD, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of your enemies shall devour them.
12 LORD, you will ordain peace [Shiloh] for us: for you also have wrought all our works in us.
13 O LORD our God, other lords beside you have had dominion over us: but by you only will we make mention of your name.
14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
15 You have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation: you are glorified: you had removed it far unto all the ends of the [old and new] earth.
16 LORD, in trouble have they visited you, they poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child, that draw near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in your sight, O LORD.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we [because we have followed misleading men] have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen [into the birth canal].
19 Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise [in ONE BODY]. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust [the ruin of the old corrupt heaven and earth]: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter you into your chambers, and shut your doors about you: hide yourself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the LORD comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Psalms 63
1 O God, you are my God; early will I seek [shachar – diligently] you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is [where no word of God is heard];
2 To see your power and your glory, so as I have seen you in the sanctuary.
3 Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
4 Thus will I bless you while I live: I will lift up my hands in your name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips:
6 When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the night watches [in the time of ignorance].
7 Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul follows hard after you: your right hand upholds me.
9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes [to dwell in holes in the earth, the graves of those alive in the flesh].
11 But the king [Shiloh] shall rejoice in God; every one that swears by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
