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19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

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19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

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Warning about Self-Confidence

13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”

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Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Now listen,(A) you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”(B) 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.(C) 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,(D) we will live and do this or that.”

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27 Don’t brag about tomorrow,
    since you don’t know what the day will bring.

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27 Do not boast(A) about tomorrow,
    for you do not know what a day may bring.(B)

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32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus[a]—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 15:32a Greek fighting wild beasts in Ephesus.
  2. 15:32b Isa 22:13.

32 If I fought wild beasts(A) in Ephesus(B) with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”[a](C)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 15:32 Isaiah 22:13

11 What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning
    looking for a drink of alcohol
and spend long evenings drinking wine
    to make themselves flaming drunk.

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11 Woe(A) to those who rise early in the morning
    to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
    till they are inflamed with wine.(B)

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Young people,[a] it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:9 Hebrew Young man.

You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.(A)

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You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

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You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves(A) in the day of slaughter.[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. James 5:5 Or yourselves as in a day of feasting

19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

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19 Their destiny(A) is destruction, their god is their stomach,(B) and their glory is in their shame.(C) Their mind is set on earthly things.(D)

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Teaching about Money and Possessions

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

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Treasures in Heaven(A)

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,(B) where moths and vermin destroy,(C) and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,(D) where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.(E) 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.(F)

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11 The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense;
    they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.

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11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;(A)
    they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

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10 Don’t make your living by extortion
    or put your hope in stealing.
And if your wealth increases,
    don’t make it the center of your life.

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10 Do not trust in extortion(A)
    or put vain hope in stolen goods;(B)
though your riches increase,
    do not set your heart on them.(C)

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She glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart,
    ‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow,
    and I have no reason to mourn.’

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Give her as much torment and grief
    as the glory and luxury she gave herself.(A)
In her heart she boasts,
    ‘I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;[a]
    I will never mourn.’(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 18:7 See Isaiah 47:7,8.

You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

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For you have spent enough time in the past(A) doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.(B)

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