Your Attitude toward God

5 ^[a](A)Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and approach to listen rather than to offer the ^(B)sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. ^2 [b]Do not be ^(C)quick with your mouth or ^[c]impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your ^(D)words be few. ³ For the dream comes through much ^[d]effort, and the voice of a ^(E)fool through many words.

⁴ When you ^(F)make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. ^(G)Pay what you vow! ⁵ It is ^(H)better that you not vow, than vow and not pay. ⁶ Do not let your ^[e]speech cause ^[f]you to sin, and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a ^(I)mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For in many dreams and in many words there is futility. Rather, ^[g](J)fear God.

⁸ If you see ^(K)oppression of the poor and ^(L)denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be ^(M)shocked at the ^[h]sight; for one ^[i]official watches over another ^[j]official, and there are higher ^[k]officials over them. ⁹ After all, a king who cultivates the field is beneficial to the land.

The Foolishness of Riches

^10 (N)One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor one who loves abundance with its income. This too is futility. ^11 (O)When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to ^[l]look at them? ¹² The sleep of the laborer is ^(P)sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the ^[m]full stomach of the rich person does not allow him to sleep.

¹³ There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun: ^(Q)wealth being ^[n]hoarded by its owner to his detriment. ¹⁴ When that wealth was lost through bad business and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing ^[o]to support him. ^15 (R)As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came. He will ^(S)take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a sickening evil: exactly as a person ^[p]is born, so will he ^[q]die. ^(T)What then is the advantage for him who ^(U)labors for the wind? ¹⁷ All his life ^(V)he also eats in darkness with ^(W)great irritation, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸ Here is what I have seen to be ^(X)good and ^[r]fitting: to eat, to drink, and ^[s]enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few ^[t]years of his life which God has given him; for this is his ^[u](Y)reward. ¹⁹ Furthermore, as for every person to whom ^(Z)God has given riches and wealth, He has also ^(AA)given him the opportunity to ^[v]enjoy them and to receive his ^[w]reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the ^(AB)gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not often call to mind the ^[x]years of his life, because ^(AC)God keeps ^[y]him busy with the joy of his heart.

Children of God Love One Another

3 See ^[a](A)how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called ^(B)children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because ^(C)it did not know Him. ^2 (D)Beloved, now we are ^(E)children of God, and ^(F)it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He ^(G)appears, we will be ^(H)like Him, because we will ^(I)see Him just as He is. ³ And everyone who has this ^(J)hope set on Him ^(K)purifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and ^(L)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that He ^(M)appeared in order to ^(N)take away sins; and ^(O)in Him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who remains in Him ^(P)sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or ^[b](Q)knows Him. ^7 (R)Little children, make sure no one ^(S)deceives you; ^(T)the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸ the one who practices sin is ^(U)of the devil; for the devil ^[c]has been sinning from the beginning. ^(V)The Son of God ^(W)appeared for this purpose, ^(X)to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one who has been ^(Y)born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this the ^(Z)children of God and the ^(AA)children of the devil are obvious: ^[d]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who ^(AB)does not love his ^(AC)brother and sister.

^11 (AD)For this is the message ^(AE)which you have heard from the beginning, ^(AF)that we are to love one another; ¹² not as ^(AG)Cain, who was of ^(AH)the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because ^(AI)his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if ^(AJ)the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have ^(AK)passed out of death into life, ^(AL)because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who ^(AM)hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that ^(AN)no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. ¹⁶ We know love by this, that ^(AO)He laid down His life for us; and ^(AP)we ought to lay down our lives for the ^(AQ)brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ But ^(AR)whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and ^(AS)closes his ^[e]heart ^[f]against him, ^(AT)how does the love of God remain in him? ^18 (AU)Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and ^(AV)truth.

The Futility of Life

6 There is an ^(A)evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread ^[a]among mankind: ² a person to whom God has ^(B)given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul ^(C)lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to ^[b]enjoy these things, but a foreigner ^[c]enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction. ³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many ^[d]they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper ^(D)burial, then I say, “Better ^(E)the miscarriage than he, ⁴ for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness. ⁵ It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet ^[e]it is better off than that man. ⁶ Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—^(F)do not all go to one and the same place?”

^7 (G)All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet ^[f]his appetite is not ^[g]satisfied. ⁸ For ^(H)what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living? ⁹ What the eyes ^(I)see is better than what the soul ^[h]desires. This too is ^(J)futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰ Whatever ^(K)exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he ^(L)cannot dispute with the ^[i]one who is mightier than he is. ¹¹ For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person? ¹² For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few ^[j]years of his futile life? He will ^[k]spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person ^(M)what will happen after him under the sun?

Wisdom and Foolishness Contrasted

¹⁹ We will know by this that we are ^(A)of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him, ²⁰ that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things. ^21 (B)Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have ^(C)confidence ^[a]before God; ²² and ^(D)whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we ^(E)keep His commandments and do ^(F)the things that are pleasing in His sight.

²³ This is His commandment, that we ^[b](G)believe in ^(H)the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as ^(I)He ^[c]commanded us. ²⁴ The one who ^(J)keeps His commandments ^(K)remains in Him, and He in him. ^(L)We know by this that ^(M)He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Testing the Spirits

4 ^(N)Beloved, do not believe every ^(O)spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^(P)many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(Q)every spirit that ^(R)confesses that ^(S)Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; ³ and every spirit that ^(T)does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the ^(U)antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and ^(V)now it is already in the world. ⁴ You are from God, ^(W)little children, and ^(X)have overcome them; because ^(Y)greater is He who is in you than ^(Z)he who is in the world. ^5 (AA)They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. ^6 (AB)We are from God. ^(AC)The one who knows God listens to us; ^(AD)the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ^(AE)the spirit of truth and ^(AF)the spirit of error.