¹⁶ For of the wise as of the fool there is ^(A)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^(B)How the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^(C)all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸ I hated ^(D)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(E)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I ^(F)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(G)over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from ^(H)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For ^(I)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(J)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24 (K)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(L)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(M)from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him ^(N)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(O)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(P)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(Q)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁸ Then ^(A)after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I saw none of the other apostles except James ^(B)the Lord's brother. ²⁰ (In what I am writing to you, ^(C)before God, I do not lie!) ^21 (D)Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² And I was still unknown in person to ^(E)the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³ They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ² I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^(F)who seemed influential) the gospel that ^(G)I proclaim among the Gentiles, ^(H)in order to make sure I was not running or had not ^(I)run in vain. ³ But even Titus, who was with me, ^(J)was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ^4 (K)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(L)slipped in to spy out ^(M)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(N)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(O)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶ And from those ^(P)who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(Q)God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^(R)added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^(S)entrusted with ^(T)the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸ (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, ^(U)who seemed to be ^(V)pillars, perceived the ^(W)grace that was given to me, they ^(X)gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^(Y)the very thing I was eager to do.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

⁵³ And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ^54 (A)and coming to ^(B)his hometown ^(C)he taught them in their synagogue, so that ^(D)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ^55 (E)Is not this ^(F)the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not ^(G)his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And ^(H)they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ^(I)“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there, ^(J)because of their unbelief.