¹⁶ And he told them a parable, saying, ^(A)“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷ and he thought to himself, ^(B)‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my ^(C)barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up ^(D)for many years; relax, ^(E)eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ^(F)‘Fool! ^(G)This night ^(H)your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, ^(I)whose will they be?’ ²¹ So is the one ^(J)who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.”

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸ I hated ^(A)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(B)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I ^(C)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(D)over all the toil of my labours under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from ^(E)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?

^18 (A)as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

The Pre-eminence of Christ

^15 (A)He is the image of ^(B)the invisible God, ^(C)the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by^[a] him all things were created, ^(D)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(E)thrones or ^(F)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^(G)through him and for him. ¹⁷ And ^(H)he is before all things, and in him all things ^(I)hold together.