My Son, Be Wise

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow ^[a]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? ^(A)It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(B)“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. ^(C)All such boasting is evil.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, ^(A)“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; ^(B)eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night ^(C)your soul will be required of you; ^(D)then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

² For He says:

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

¹⁹ Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with ^(A)me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”