Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Everything Has Its Time
3 For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:(A)
2 a time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;(B)
3 a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;(C)
5 a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;(D)
6 a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;(E)
8 a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.(F)
The God-Given Task
9 What gain have the workers from their toil?(G) 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.(H) 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.(I) 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
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Psalm 8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 8
Divine Majesty and Human Dignity
To the leader: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.(A)
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.(B)
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;(C)
4 what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals[a] that you care for them?(D)
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God[b]
and crowned them with glory and honor.(E)
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,(F)
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!(G)
Revelation 21:1-6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The New Heaven and the New Earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.(A) 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.(B) 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home[a] of God is among mortals.
He will dwell[b] with them;
they will be his peoples,[c]
and God himself will be with them and be their God;[d](C)
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for[e] the first things have passed away.”(D)
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”(E) 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.(F)
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Matthew 25:31-46
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Judgment of the Nations
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.(A) 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,(B) 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,(C) 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,(D) 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’(E) 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’(F) 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,(G) 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’(H) 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”(I)
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