Hezekiah’s Life Extended^(A)

20 In ^(B)those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”

² Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, ^3 (C)“Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁵ “Return and tell Hezekiah ^(D)the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: ^(E)“I have heard your prayer, I have seen ^(F)your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and ^(G)I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

The End of the Wise and the Fool

¹⁷ Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁸ Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because ^(G)I must 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 rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. ²¹ For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his ^[a]heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ^22 (H)For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? ²³ For all his days are ^(I)sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ But He said to him, ^(A)“Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And He said to them, ^(B)“Take heed and beware of ^[a]covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

¹⁶ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, ^(C)“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; ^(D)eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night ^(E)your soul will be required of you; ^(F)then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

²¹ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, ^(G)and is not rich toward God.”