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

¹² Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better^(A) with those who fear God,^(B) who are reverent before him.^{(C) 13} Yet because the wicked do not fear God,^(D) it will not go well with them, and their days^(E) will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴ There 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.^(F) This too, I say, is meaningless.^(G)

¹² For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days^(A) they pass through like a shadow?^(B) Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;^(A) others you will flog in your synagogues^(B) and pursue from town to town.^{(C) 35} And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(D) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,^(E) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^(F)

⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?^(A) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him^(B)—

² They will put you out of the synagogue;^(A) in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.^(B)

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁹ Enjoy life with your wife,^(A) whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot^(B) in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.