The Vanity of Pleasure^(A)

2 I said ^(B)in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with ^(C)mirth; ^[a]therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, ^(D)this also was vanity.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, ^(A)“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; ^(B)eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

^15 (A)So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and ^[a]luxury; you have ^[b]fattened your hearts ^[c]as in a day of slaughter.

Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

5 Come now, you ^(A)rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!

^7 (A)In the measure that she glorified herself and lived ^[a]luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as ^(B)queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ ⁸ Therefore her plagues will come ^(C)in one day—death and mourning and famine. And ^(D)she will be utterly burned with fire, ^(E)for strong is the Lord God who ^[b]judges her.

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow ^[a]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;

³ For ^(A)we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.