Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

New International Version

¹⁵In this meaningless life^(A) of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.^(B)
¹⁶Do not be overrighteous,
    neither be overwise—
    why destroy yourself?
¹⁷Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time?^(C)
¹⁸It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God^(D) will avoid all extremes.^[a]

¹⁹Wisdom^(E) makes one wise person more powerful^(F)
than ten rulers in a city.

²⁰Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,^(G)
no one who does what is right and never sins.^(H)

²¹Do not pay attention to every word people say,
or you^(I) may hear your servant cursing you—
²²for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.

²³All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

“I am determined to be wise”^(J)—
    but this was beyond me.
²⁴Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
    who can discover it?^(K)
²⁵So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things^(L)
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.^(M)

²⁶I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,^(N)
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.^(O)

²⁷“Look,” says the Teacher,^[b]^(P) “this is what I have discovered:

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
²⁸    while I was still searching
    but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
    but not one upright woman^(Q) among them all.
²⁹This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 7:18 Or will follow them both
Ecclesiastes 7:27 Or the leader of the assembly

1 John 4:7-21

New International Version

God’s Love and Ours

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another,^(A) for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God^(B) and knows God.^(C) ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.^(D) ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^(E) into the world that we might live through him.^(F) ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us^(G) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.^(H) ¹¹Dear friends,^(I) since God so loved us,^(J) we also ought to love one another.^(K) ¹²No one has ever seen God;^(L) but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.^(M)

¹³This is how we know^(N) that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.^(O) ¹⁴And we have seen and testify^(P) that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.^(Q) ¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,^(R) God lives in them and they in God.^(S) ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love.^(T) Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.^(U) ¹⁷This is how love is made complete^(V) among us so that we will have confidence^(W) on the day of judgment:^(X) In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,^(Y) because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.^(Z) ²⁰Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister^(AA) is a liar.^(AB) For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen,^(AC) cannot love God, whom they have not seen.^(AD) ²¹And he has given us this command:^(AE) Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.^(AF)

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Ecclesiastes 8

New International Version

8 Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the King

²Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. ³Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.^(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. ⁴Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?^(B)”

⁵Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,^(C)
though a person may be weighed down by misery.

⁷Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
⁸As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
    so^[a] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
    so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own^[b] hurt. ¹⁰Then too, I saw the wicked buried^(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise^[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. ¹²Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better^(E) with those who fear God,^(F) who are reverent before him.^(G) ¹³Yet because the wicked do not fear God,^(H) it will not go well with them, and their days^(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.^(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.^(K) ¹⁵So I commend the enjoyment of life^(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink^(M) and be glad.^(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom^(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth^(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— ¹⁷then I saw all that God has done.^(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.^(R)

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten

1 John 5

New International Version

Faith in the Incarnate Son of God

5 Everyone who believes^(A) that Jesus is the Christ^(B) is born of God,^(C) and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.^(D) ²This is how we know^(E) that we love the children of God:^(F) by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.^(G) And his commands are not burdensome,^(H) ⁴for everyone born of God^(I) overcomes^(J) the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.^(K)

⁶This is the one who came by water and blood^(L)—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.^(M) ⁷For there are three^(N) that testify: ⁸the^[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. ⁹We accept human testimony,^(O) but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God,^(P) which he has given about his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony.^(Q) Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar,^(R) because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,^(S) and this life is in his Son.^(T) ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.^(U)

Concluding Affirmations

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God^(V) so that you may know that you have eternal life.^(W) ¹⁴This is the confidence^(X) we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.^(Y) ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know^(Z) that we have what we asked of him.^(AA)

¹⁶If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.^(AB) I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death.^(AC) I am not saying that you should pray about that.^(AD) ¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin,^(AE) and there is sin that does not lead to death.^(AF)

¹⁸We know that anyone born of God^(AG) does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one^(AH) cannot harm them.^(AI) ¹⁹We know that we are children of God,^(AJ) and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.^(AK) ²⁰We know also that the Son of God has come^(AL) and has given us understanding,^(AM) so that we may know him who is true.^(AN) And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.^(AO)

²¹Dear children,^(AP) keep yourselves from idols.^(AQ)

Footnotes

1 John 5:8 Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that testify on earth: the (not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century)