John 3:16-21

English Standard Version

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶“For ^(A)God so loved ^(B)the world,^[a] ^(C)that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^(D)perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For ^(E)God did not send his Son into the world ^(F)to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸^(G)Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not ^(H)believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹^(I)And this is the judgment: ^(J)the light has come into the world, and ^(K)people loved the darkness rather than the light because ^(L)their works were evil. ²⁰^(M)For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ^(N)lest his works should be exposed. ²¹But whoever ^(O)does what is true ^(P)comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

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Footnotes

John 3:16 Or For this is how God loved the world

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

English Standard Version

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly

7 ^(A)A good name is better than precious ointment,
    and ^(B)the day of death than the day of birth.
²It is better to go to the house of mourning
    than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
    and the living will ^(C)lay it to heart.
³Sorrow is better than laughter,
    ^(D)for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
⁵It is ^(E)better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
    than to hear the song of fools.
⁶^(F)For as the crackling of ^(G)thorns under a pot,
    so is the laughter of the fools;
    this also is vanity.^[a]
⁷Surely ^(H)oppression drives the wise into madness,
    and ^(I)a bribe corrupts the heart.
⁸Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
    and ^(J)the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
⁹^(K)Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
    ^(L)for anger lodges in the heart^[b] of fools.
¹⁰Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
    For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
    an advantage to those who ^(M)see the sun.
¹²For the protection of wisdom is like ^(N)the protection of money,
    and the advantage of knowledge is that ^(O)wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
¹³Consider ^(P)the work of God:
    ^(Q)who can make straight what he has made crooked?

¹⁴^(R)In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^(S)so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

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