1054 verses about Temptation

Show not yourself valiant in wine; For wine has destroyed many.

Go not in a way of conflict; And stumble not in stony places.

There shall no evil happen to him that fears the Lord; But in temptation once and again will he deliver him.

Send him to labor, that he be not idle; For idleness teaches much mischief.

Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain: And the heart fancies, as a woman’s in travail.

For dreams have led many astray: And they have failed by putting their hope in them.

The mouth tastes meats taken in hunting: So does an understanding heart false speeches.

O wicked imagination, whence came you rolling in To cover the dry land with deceitfulness?

And say to you, Your way is good: And he will stand near you, to see what will happen to you.

My son, prove your soul in your life, And see what is evil for it, and give not that to it.

In the mouth of the shameless begging will be sweet; And in his belly a fire shall be kindled.

Better is a man that hides his foolishness Than a man that hides his wisdom.

And of silence before those who salute you; And of looking upon a woman that is a harlot;

Look not upon every body in regard of beauty, And sit not in the midst of women;

You did bow your loins to women, And in your body you were brought into subjection.

Beware therefore that you⌃ in no wise become like to the strangers, neither let fear take hold upon you because of them, when you⌃ see the multitude before them and behind them, worshipping them.

And the two elders saw her going in every day, and walking; and they were inflamed with love for her.

And albeit they both were wounded with her love, yet dared not one show another his grief.

For they were ashamed to declare their lust, that they desired to have to do with her.

Yet they watched jealously from day to day to see her.

So when they were gone out, they parted the one from the other, and turning back again they came to the same place; and after that they had asked one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust: and then appointed they a time both together, when they might find her alone.

And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in as aforetime with two maids only, and she was desirous to wash herself in the garden: for it was hot.

And there was nobody there save the two elders, that had hid themselves, and watched her.

And they did as she bade them, and shut the garden doors, and went out themselves at the side doors to fetch the things that she had commanded them: and they saw not the elders, because they were hid.

Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders rose up, and ran to her, saying,

Behold, the garden doors are shut, that no man can see us, and we are in love with you; therefore consent to us, and lie with us.

If you will not, we will bear witness against you, that a young man was with you: and therefore you did send away your maids from you.

Then Susanna sighed, and said, I am straitened on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I can’t escape your hands.

It is better for me to fall into your hands, and not do it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.

And it came to pass on the morrow, when the people assembled to her husband Joakim, the two elders came full of their wicked intent against Susanna to put her to death;

And these wicked men commanded her to be unveiled, (for she was veiled) that they might be filled with her beauty.

And the elders said, As we walked in the garden alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the garden doors, and sent the maids away.

Then a young man, who there was hid, came to her, and lay with her.

So he put him aside, and commanded to bring the other, and said to him, O you seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you, and lust has perverted your heart.

And it came to pass, when they were gone forth, the king set the meat before Bel. Now Daniel had commanded his servants to bring ashes, and they strewed all the temple with them in the presence of the king alone: then they went out, and shut the door, and sealed it with the king’s signet, and so departed.

And the king said to Daniel, Wilt you also say that this is of brass? behold, he lives, and eats and drinks; you can not say that he is no living god: therefore worship him.

Now when the king saw that they pressed him sore, being constrained, the king delivered Daniel to them:

And they stored up arms and food, and gathering together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and they became a sore snare:

And they chose to die, that they might not be defiled with the meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: and they died.

now therefore come you first and do the commandment of the king, as all the nations have done, and the men of Judah, and those who remain in Jerusalem: and you and your house shall be in the number of the king’s Friends, and you and your sons shall be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.

Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness?

And he remembered the wickedness of the children of Baean, who were to the people a snare and a stumbling block, lying in wait for them in the ways.

And they removed, and came with a great army into the land of Judah, and he sent messengers to Judas and his kindred with words of peace deceitfully.

and the son of Abubus received them deceitfully into the little stronghold that is called Dok, which he had built, and made them a great banquet, and hid men there.

and how that the prophet charged those who were carried away, having given them the law, that they should not forget the statutes of the Lord, neither be led astray in their minds, when they saw images of gold and silver, and the adornment thereof.

And when he could not overcome Onias, he got him to Apollonius the son of Thrasaeus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia:

so that the priests had no more any zeal for the services of the altar: but despising the sanctuary, and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to enjoy that which was unlawfully provided in the palaestra, after the summons of the discus;

And Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a favourable opportunity, presented to Andronicus certain vessels of gold belonging to the temple, which he had stolen: other vessels also he had already sold into Tyre and the cities round about.

Wherefore Menelaus, taking Andronicus apart, prayed him to kill Onias. And coming to Onias, and being persuaded to use treachery, and being received as a friend, Andronicus gave him his right hand with oaths of fidelity, and, though he was suspected by him, so persuaded him to come forth of the sanctuary; and forthwith he despatched him without regard of justice.

But Menelaus, seeing himself now defeated, promised much money to Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, that he might win over the king.

Whereupon Ptolemy taking the king aside into a cloister, as it were to take the air, brought him to be of another mind:

Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well stricken in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.

coming forward as men ought to come that are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste.

But those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was befitting for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the sacrifice, as had been commanded by the king;

and so they, by reason of my dissimulation, and for the sake of this brief and momentary life, should be led astray because of me, and thus I get to myself a pollution and a stain of my old age.

But Antiochus, thinking himself to be despised, and suspecting the reproachful voice, while the youngest was yet alive did not only make his appeal to him by words, but also at the same time promised with oaths that he would enrich him and raise him to high estate, if he would turn from the customs of his fathers, and that he would take him for his Friend and intrust him with affairs.

But Simon and those who were with him, yielding to covetousness, were bribed by certain of those that were in the towers, and receiving seventy thousand drachmas let some of them slip away.

he stretched forth his right hand toward the sanctuary, and sware this oath: If you⌃ will not deliver up to me Judas as a prisoner, I will lay this temple of God even with the ground, and will break down the altar, and I will erect here a temple to Bacchus for all to see.

and said thus, O sirs, how exceeding strong is wine! it causes all men to err that drink it:

but when they awake from their wine, they remember not what they have done.

O sirs, is not wine the strongest, seeing that it enforces to do thus? And when he had so spoken, he held his peace.

they let all those things go, and gape after her, and even with open mouth fix their eyes fast on her; and have all more desire to her than to gold or silver, or any goodly thing whatever.

Yes, many there be that have run out of their wits for women, and become bondmen for their sakes.

Many also have perished, have stumbled, and sinned, for women.

he was so struck with the magnificence of the place, and so wondered at the orderly arrangements of the temple, that he considered entering the sanctuary itself.

And when they told him that this was not permissible, none of the nation, no, nor even the priests in general, but only the supreme high priest of all, and he only once in a year, being allowed to go in, he would by no means give way.

The elders who surrounded the king strove in many ways to divert his haughty mind from the design which he had formed.

To outward appearance they received us willingly; but belied that appearance by their deeds. When we were eager to enter their temple, and to honor it with the most beautiful and exquisite gifts,

All this, however, they have taken in a very different spirit. With their innate malignity, they have spurned the fair offer; and constantly inclining to evil,

The king, just like another Phalaris, a prey to thoughtlessness, made no account of the changes which his own mind had undergone, issuing in the deliverance of the Jews. He swore a fruitless oath, and determined forthwith to send them to hades, crushed by the knees and feet of the elephants.

but the entrance thereof is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, having a fire on the right hand, and on the left a deep water:

The first order, because they have striven with great labor to overcome the evil thought which was fashoned together with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death.

Therefore be you⌃ not like thereto, nor to the works thereof.

If, then, reasoning appears to hold the mastery over the passions which stand in the way of temperance, such as gluttony and lust,

it surely also and manifestly has the rule over the affections which are contrary to justice, such as malice; and of those which are hindrances to manliness, as wrath, and pain, and fear.

For reasoning does not rule over its own affections, but over such as are contrary to justice, and manliness and temperance, and prudence; and yet over these, so as to withstand, without destroying them.

Let us determine, then, What is reasoning? and what passion? and how many forms of the passions? and whether reasoning bears sway over all of these?

Of the passions, pleasure and pain are the two most comprehensive; and they also by nature refer to the soul.

And there are many attendant affections surrounding pleasure and pain.

Before pleasure is lust; and after pleasure, joy.

Wrath is an affection, common to pleasure and to pain, if any one will pay attention when it comes upon him.

And there exists in pleasure a malicious disposition, which is the most multiform of all the affections.

In the soul it is arrogance, and love of money, and vaingloriousness, and contention, and faithlessness, and the evil eye.

As pleasure and pain are, therefore, two growth of the body and the soul, so there are many offshoots of these passions.

For reasoning is the leader of the virtues, but it is the sole ruler of the passions. Observe then first, through the very things which stand in the way of temperance, that reasoning is absolute ruler of the passions.

Now temperance consists of a command over the lusts.

For whence is it, otherwise, that when urged on to forbidden meats, we reject the gratification which would ensue from them? Is it not because reasoning is able to command the appetites? I believe so.

Hence it is, then, that when lusting after water-animals and birds, and four-footed beasts, and all kinds of food which are forbidden us by the law, we withhold ourselves through the mastery of reasoning.

For the affections of our appetites are resisted by the temperate understanding, and bent back again, and all the impulses of the body are reined in by reasoning.

on this ground, therefore, the temperate Joseph is praised in that by reasoning, he subdued, on reflection, the indulgence of sense.

For, although young, and ripe for sexual intercourse, he abrogated by reasoning the stimulus of his passions.

And it is not merely the stimulus of sensual indulgence, but that of every desire, that reasoning is able to master.

Now, then, since it is the law which has forbidden us to desire, I shall much the more easily persuade you, that reasoning is able to govern our lusts, just as it does the affections which are impediments to justice.

Since in what way is a solitary eater, and a glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed, unless it be clear that reasoning is lord of the passions?

For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant passions, as it does wrath: for it masters even this.

For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to be superior to the passions, and to transfer some, and destroy others.

The argument is exceedingly ridiculous: for reasoning does not appear to bear sway over its own affections, but over those of the body,

in such a way as that any one of you may not be able to root out desire, but reasoning will enable you to avoid being enslaved to it.

One may not be able to root out anger from the soul, but it is possible to withstand anger.

Any one of you may not be able to eradicate malice, but reasoning has force to work with you to prevent you yielding to malice.