Fear God, Keep Your Vows

5 Walk ^(A)prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather ^(B)than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.

⁶ Do not let your ^(I)mouth cause your flesh to sin, ^(J)nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your ^[a]excuse and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But ^(K)fear God.

The Vanity of Gain and Honor

⁸ If you ^(L)see the oppression of the poor, and the violent ^[b]perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for ^(M)high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them.

⁹ Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field.

¹⁸ Here is what I have seen: ^(S)It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; ^(T)for it is his ^[d]heritage. ¹⁹ As for ^(U)every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his ^[e]heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the ^(V)gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.

The Command to Love

3 Behold ^(A)what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that ^(B)we should be called children of ^[a]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[b]us, ^(C)because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, ^(D)now we are children of God; and ^(E)it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, ^(F)we shall be like Him, for ^(G)we shall see Him as He is. ^3 (H)And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Sin and the Child of God

⁴ Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and ^(I)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know ^(J)that He was manifested ^(K)to take away our sins, and ^(L)in Him there is no sin. ⁶ Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ^8 (M)He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, ^(N)that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Whoever has been ^(O)born of God does not sin, for ^(P)His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The Imperative of Love^(Q)

¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ¹¹ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, ^(R)that we should love one another, ¹² not as ^(S)Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

¹³ Do not marvel, my brethren, if ^(T)the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love ^[c]his brother abides in death. ^15 (U)Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^(V)no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

^16 (W)By this we know love, ^(X)because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But ^(Y)whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸ My little children, ^(Z)let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Wealth Is Not the Goal of Life

6 There^(A) is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: ² A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, ^(B)so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; ^(C)yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil ^[a]affliction.

³ If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or ^(D)indeed he has no burial, I say that ^(E)a ^[b]stillborn child is better than he— ⁴ for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. ⁵ Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, ⁶ even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one ^(F)place?

¹² For who knows what is good for man in life, ^[e]all the days of his ^[f]vain life which he passes like ^(K)a shadow? ^(L)Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

The Value of Practical Wisdom

¹⁹ And by this we ^[a]know ^(A)that we are of the truth, and shall ^[b]assure our hearts before Him. ^20 (B)For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, ^(C)we have confidence toward God. ²² And ^(D)whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments ^(E)and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ ^(F)and love one another, as He gave ^[c]us commandment.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

²⁴ Now ^(G)he who keeps His commandments ^(H)abides in Him, and He in him. And ^(I)by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Love for God and One Another

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but ^(J)test the spirits, whether they are of God; because ^(K)many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: ^(L)Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess ^[d]that Jesus ^[e]Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than ^(M)he who is in the world. ^5 (N)They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and ^(O)the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. ^(P)By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.