1Every wise woman builds her house,
but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
2He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh,
but he who is perverse in his ways despises him.
3The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back,
but the lips of the wise protect them.
4Where no oxen are, the crib is clean,
but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
5A truthful witness will not lie,
but a false witness pours out lies.
6A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it,
but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.
7Stay away from a foolish man,
for you won’t find knowledge on his lips.
8The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way,
but the folly of fools is deceit.
9Fools mock at making atonement for sins,
but among the upright there is good will.
10The heart knows its own bitterness and joy;
he will not share these with a stranger.
11The house of the wicked will be overthrown,
but the tent of the upright will flourish.
12There is a way which seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.
13Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful,
and mirth may end in heaviness.
14The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways;
likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.
15A simple man believes everything,
but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.
16A wise man fears and shuns evil,
but the fool is hot headed and reckless.
17He who is quick to become angry will commit folly,
and a crafty man is hated.
18The simple inherit folly,
but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
19The evil bow down before the good,
and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
20The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor,
but the rich person has many friends.
21He who despises his neighbor sins,
but he who has pity on the poor is blessed.
22Don’t they go astray who plot evil?
But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.
23In all hard work there is profit,
but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.
24The crown of the wise is their riches,
but the folly of fools crowns them with folly.
25A truthful witness saves souls,
but a false witness is deceitful.
26In the fear of Yahweh is a secure fortress,
and he will be a refuge for his children.
27The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life,
turning people from the snares of death.
28In the multitude of people is the king’s glory,
but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.
29He who is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
30The life of the body is a heart at peace,
but envy rots the bones.
31He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker,
but he who is kind to the needy honors him.
32The wicked is brought down in his calamity,
but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
33Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding,
and is even made known in the inward part of fools.
34Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a disgrace to any people.
35The king’s favor is toward a servant who deals wisely,
but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.
There is controversy today in the Christian community far more important than differences among believers in many decades regarding the nature of the Genesis account in Genesis 1, 2, & 3. Liberal scholars have generally believed the creation account was not truly representative of an actual event but embraced a Darwinist explanation of the creation of the world (what is often called macro-evolution), that contends that all of life on earth developed from very small forms of life that were created by an accident in the primordial fluids of ancient earth billions of years ago. Even so, the current debate extends much further than believing in long periods for the creation days and even accepting some form of evolution. The current debate is whether Adam and Eve and the events transpiring around them in the biblical account ever occurred and whether Genesis is only a myth rather than factual history.
Christians, through most of Christian history (and the Jewish people before Christianity), have embraced a literal and factual creation by God that is found in Genesis 1, as well as the more detailed creation of humans in Genesis 2. In current Christianity, several scholars, who are generally conservative in most areas of theology, are advocating that the Genesis One account is, in reality, a myth or fiction. Moreover, there is a rejection of an actual Adam and Eve, a temptation and fall, and many of the events in the book of Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament. Allegedly, God only inspired a mythical account that provided a story in which He could teach an inerrant truth about Himself being the ultimate Creator of the universe.
However, there are several reasons to reject this manner of interpreting Genesis. First, this alternate view is contrary to the understanding of various persons in the Old Testament, Jesus, the apostles, and the church for most of its history. Second, though the factual account of creation and the fall arguably contains some poetic features, the essence is a true and historical account that is consistent with the mainstream scientific understanding of the chronology of the creative events. Additionally, the biblical account of creation is not in agreement with Ancient Near East creation stories, upon which many current scholars rely in rejecting the factual, historical account found in Scripture, as well as the uniqueness of the Genesis account of creation. As the literary scholar C. S. Lewis once stated, "Myth comes from history and not history from myth."
I would encourage you to view the free YouTube video, Is Genesis History? Click https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UM82qxxskZE&feature=youtu.be in the browser of your phone, iPad, or Computer for this excellent discussion of the historicity of the book of Genesis.
The writers of the Bible believed in the historical doctrine of the creation of the world and the specific creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible contains about 300 verses on creation.
Gen 1:1-27; 2:1-23; 3:1, 19, 23; 5:1, 2; 6:6, 7; 7:4; 9:6
Exod 4:11, 32; 14:21; 20:11; 31:17
Job 4:7; 9:8, 9; 10:8; 26:7; 28:6; 31:15; 32:22; 33:4, 6, 7; 34:15; 38:4-6; 40:15
Ps 8:3-8; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:6; 52:7; 86:9; 89:11, 12; 90:2, 3; 94:9; 95:5, 6; 96:5; 100:3; 102:25; 104:2-5, 19, 24, 25, 30; 115:8, 15; 119:73; 121:2; 125:3, 8; 135:7; 139:14, 15; 146:6; 148:1-5
Prov 8:23-29; 14:31; 16:4; 17:5; 20:1, 2, 12; 22:2; 26:10
Eccl 3:11; 7:14, 29; 11:5; 12:1, 7
Isa 17:7; 22:11; 27:11; 29:16; 37:16, 26; 40:21, 26, 28; 41:20; 42:5; 43:1, 7, 10, 17, 21; 44:2, 21, 24; 45:7, 8, 12, 18; 48:13; 49:5; 51:13, 16; 66:2, 22
Jer 1:5; 10:11-13, 16; 27:5; 29:9; 31:35; 32:17; 33:2; 51:15, 16
Matt 13:35; 19:4, 5, 6, 8; 24:21; 25:34
John 1:3, 10; 8:44; 9:32; 17:24
Rom 1:19, 20; 5:12, 14-19; 8:19-23, 39; Rom 13:1, 4
1 Cor 11:3, 8, 9, 12; 15:22, 38, 45-47, 49
Eph 1:4, 39
1 Tim 2:13, 14; 4:3, 4
Heb 1:2, 3, 10, 14; 3:4; 4:3, 4, 10, 13; 9:11, 26; 12:27
Rev 3:14; 4:8-11; 10:6; 13:8; 14:7; 17:8; 21:1, 5; 22:13
Knowing the Truth about Creation, p. 150, from Norm Geisler, The Importance of Creation (PowerPoint Presentation)