Ecclesiastes 9

New International Version

A Common Destiny for All

9 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.^(A) ²All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,^[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.^(B)

³This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.^(C) The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live,^(D) and afterward they join the dead.^(E) ⁴Anyone who is among the living has hope^[b]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

⁵For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;^(F)
they have no further reward,
    and even their name^(G) is forgotten.^(H)
⁶Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.^(I)

⁷Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine^(J) with a joyful heart,^(K) for God has already approved what you do. ⁸Always be clothed in white,^(L) and always anoint your head with oil. ⁹Enjoy life with your wife,^(M) whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot^(N) in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. ¹⁰Whatever^(O) your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,^(P) for in the realm of the dead,^(Q) where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.^(R)

¹¹I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,^(S)
nor does food come to the wise^(T)
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance^(U) happen to them all.^(V)

¹²Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times^(W)
that fall unexpectedly upon them.^(X)

Wisdom Better Than Folly

¹³I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom^(Y) that greatly impressed me: ¹⁴There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. ¹⁵Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.^(Z) ¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.^(AA)

¹⁷The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
¹⁸Wisdom^(AB) is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 9:2 Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have and the bad.
Ecclesiastes 9:4 Or What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope

Romans 8

New International Version

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(A) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^(B) ²because through Christ Jesus^(C) the law of the Spirit who gives life^(D) has set you^[a] free^(E) from the law of sin^(F) and death. ³For what the law was powerless^(G) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b]^(H) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh^(I) to be a sin offering.^[c]^(J) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement^(K) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^(L)

⁵Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;^(M) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.^(N) ⁶The mind governed by the flesh is death,^(O) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life^(P) and peace. ⁷The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;^(Q) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those who are in the realm of the flesh^(R) cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh^(S) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.^(T) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,^(U) they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you,^(V) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead^(W) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies^(X) because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹²Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.^(Y) ¹³For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;^(Z) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,^(AA) you will live.^(AB)

¹⁴For those who are led by the Spirit of God^(AC) are the children of God.^(AD) ¹⁵The Spirit^(AE) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;^(AF) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.”^(AG) ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit^(AH) that we are God’s children.^(AI) ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs^(AJ)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings^(AK) in order that we may also share in his glory.^(AL)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.^(AM) ¹⁹For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God^(AN) to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,^(AO) in hope ²¹that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay^(AP) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.^(AQ)

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning^(AR) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^(AS) groan^(AT) inwardly as we wait eagerly^(AU) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.^(AV) ²⁴For in this hope we were saved.^(AW) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.^(AX) Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.^(AY)

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit^(AZ) himself intercedes for us^(BA) through wordless groans. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts^(BB) knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes^(BC) for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good^(BD) of those who love him, who^[i] have been called^(BE) according to his purpose.^(BF) ²⁹For those God foreknew^(BG) he also predestined^(BH) to be conformed to the image of his Son,^(BI) that he might be the firstborn^(BJ) among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰And those he predestined,^(BK) he also called;^(BL) those he called, he also justified;^(BM) those he justified, he also glorified.^(BN)

More Than Conquerors

³¹What, then, shall we say in response to these things?^(BO) If God is for us,^(BP) who can be against us?^(BQ) ³²He who did not spare his own Son,^(BR) but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge^(BS) against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who then is the one who condemns?^(BT) No one. Christ Jesus who died^(BU)—more than that, who was raised to life^(BV)—is at the right hand of God^(BW) and is also interceding for us.^(BX) ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?^(BY) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?^(BZ) ³⁶As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]^(CA)

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors^(CB) through him who loved us.^(CC) ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future,^(CD) nor any powers,^(CE) ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God^(CF) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.^(CG)

Footnotes

Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin
Romans 8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
Romans 8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through
Romans 8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23.
Romans 8:15 Aramaic for father
Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. ²¹For
Romans 8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who
Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22
Romans 8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers

Psalm 123

New International Version

Psalm 123

A song of ascents.

¹I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned^(A) in heaven.
²As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord^(B) our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.

³Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us,
    for we have endured no end of contempt.
⁴We have endured no end
    of ridicule from the arrogant,
    of contempt from the proud.