The Riddles of Life

¹⁵ In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing.^{(A) 16} Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself?^{(B) 17} Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of the one without letting go of the other, for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.

¹⁹ Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers who are in a city.^(C)

²⁰ Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.^(D)

²¹ Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; ²² your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.

²³ All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.^{(E) 24} That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?^{(F) 25} I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.^{(G) 26} I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.^{(H) 27} See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum,^{(I) 28} which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹ See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.^(J)

God Is Love

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.^{(A) 8} Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.^{(B) 10} In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.^{(C) 11} Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.^{(D) 12} No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.^(E)

¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.^{(F) 16} So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.^{(G) 18} There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹ We love^[a] because he first loved us. ²⁰ Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.^{(H) 21} The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Obey the King and Enjoy Yourself

² Keep^[a] the king’s command, and because of your sacred oath^{(B) 3} do not be terrified; go from his presence; do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴ For the word of the king is powerful, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”^{(C) 5} Whoever obeys a command will meet no harm, and the wise mind will know the time and way. ⁶ For every matter has its time and way, although the troubles of mortals lie heavy upon them.^{(D) 7} Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be?^{(E) 8} No one has power over the wind^[b] to restrain the wind^[c] or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it.^{(F) 9} All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.^(G)

God’s Ways Are Inscrutable

¹⁰ Then I saw the wicked approaching to sacrifice;^[d] they go in and out of the holy place, and they boast^[e] in the city that they have done such things. This also is vanity. ¹¹ Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil. ¹² Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him,^{(H) 13} but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.^(I)

¹⁴ There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked and wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.^{(J) 15} So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat and drink and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.^(K)

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night, ¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.^(L)

Faith Conquers the World

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^[a] has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.^{(A) 2} By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,^{(B) 4} for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.^{(C) 5} Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?^(D)

Testimony concerning the Son of God

⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.^{(E) 7} There are three that testify:^{[b](F) 8} the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. ⁹ If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.^{(G) 10} Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God^[c] have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.^{(H) 11} And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.^(I)

Epilogue

¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.^[d](J)

¹⁴ And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. ¹⁶ If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a deadly sin, you will ask, and God^[e] will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not deadly. There is sin that is deadly; I do not say that you should pray about that.^{(K) 17} All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

¹⁸ We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.^{[f](L) 19} We know that we are God’s children and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.^{(M) 20} And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;^[g] and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.^(N)

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.^[h]