A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and ^(A)a time for every matter under heaven:

The God-Given Task

⁹ What ^(M)gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen ^(N)the business that ^(O)God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹ He has ^(P)made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot ^(Q)find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹² I perceived that there is ^(R)nothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^(S)do good as long as they live; ¹³ also ^(T)that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^(U)God's gift to man.

¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^(V)nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. ¹⁵ That which is, ^(W)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ^(X)seeks what has been driven away.^[a]

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹ But ^(A)when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^(B)to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, ^(C)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(D)the circumcision party.^{[a] 13} And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their ^(E)conduct was not in step with ^(F)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(G)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(H)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^(I)Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that ^(J)a person is not justified^[b] by works of the law ^(K)but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^(L)because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found ^(M)to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I ^(N)died to the law, so that I might ^(O)live to God. ²⁰ I have been ^(P)crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives ^(Q)in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ^(R)who loved me and ^(S)gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(T)if righteousness^[c] were through the law, ^(U)then Christ died for no purpose.

The Death of John the Baptist

14 ^(A)At that time ^(B)Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, ² and he said to his servants, ^(C)“This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” ³ For ^(D)Herod had seized John and bound him and ^(E)put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,^{[a] 4} because John had been saying to him, ^(F)“It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ And though he wanted to put him to death, ^(G)he feared the people, because they held him to be ^(H)a prophet. ⁶ But when Herod's ^(I)birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, ⁷ so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” ⁹ And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. ¹⁰ He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, ¹¹ and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² And ^(J)his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.